SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence among the general population and healthcare workers in India, December 2020-January 2021

Background: Earlier serosurveys in India revealed seroprevalence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) of 0.73% in May-June 2020 and 7.1% in August-September 2020. A third serosurvey was conducted between December 2020 and January 2021 to estimate the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among the general population and healthcare workers (HCWs) in India. Methods: The third serosurvey was conducted in the same 70 districts as the first and second serosurveys. For each district, at least 400 individuals aged >10 years from the general population and 100 HCWs from subdistrict-level health facilities were enrolled. Serum samples from the general population were tested for the presence of immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies against the nucleocapsid (N) and spike (S1-RBD) proteins of SARS-CoV-2, whereas serum samples from HCWs were tested for anti-S1-RBD. Weighted seroprevalence adjusted for assay characteristics was estimated. Results: Of the 28,598 serum samples from the general population, 4585 (16%) had IgG antibodies against the N protein, 6647 (23.2%) had IgG antibodies against the S1-RBD protein, and 7436 (26%) had IgG antibodies against either the N protein or the S1-RBD protein. Weighted and assay-characteristic adjusted seroprevalence against either of the antibodies was 24.1% [95% confidence interval (CI) 23.0- 25.3%]. Among 7385 HCWs, the seroprevalence of anti-S1-RBD IgG antibodies was 25.6% (95% CI 23.5- 27.8%). Conclusions: Nearly one in four individuals aged >10 years from the general population as well as HCWs in India had been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 by December 2020. (c) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of International Society for Infectious Diseases. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-ncnd/4.0/).

Automated summary

The third serosurvey conducted in India between December 2020 and January 2021 revealed that nearly one in four individuals aged >10 years from the general population as well as healthcare workers had been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 by December 2020, with seroprevalence rates of 24.1% and 25.6% respectively.