The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Thursday published the results of part two of the first national population-based sero survey to check the transmission of Covid-19 in the country. The findings of the survey, conducted between May 11 and June 4 in 21 states, indicated that 0.73 per cent of adults in India were exposed to Covid-19 infection, amounting to 6.4 million infections in total by early May. "The findings of the sero survey indicated a low prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the general population in India in early May 2020. As most of the population remains susceptible to infection, our public health strategy needs to plan for an inevitable increase in transmission," the sero-survey revealed.A

A total of 30,283 households were visited and 28,000 individuals were enrolled in the survey, who were tested for IgG antibodies. The seroprevalence ranged between 0.62 per cent and 1.03 per cent across the four strata of districts. Population-based estimates of seroprevalence provide information about the state of the epidemic in the country.