By Krishna N. Das
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – About one in four of India’s 1.35 billion people is possibly infected with the coronavirus, said a source with direct knowledge of a government serological investigation, which suggests the country’s case load was many times higher than reported.
India has confirmed 10.8 million COVID-19 infections, most everywhere outside the United States. But the survey, the findings of which are far more conservative than a private report last week, suggests that India’s actual cases could exceed 300 million.
The state-run Indian Medical Research Council (ICMR), which conducted the survey, said it would only share the findings at a news conference on Thursday. The source did not want to be named before the official announcement.
It was not immediately clear how many people took part in the latest survey.
After another survey conducted in August and September using blood samples from more than 29,000 people over the age of 10, ICMR concluded that one in 15 Indians has COVID-19 antibodies. The figure jumped to one in six in urban slums.
In a survey released this week by the government of the capital New Delhi, it was found that more than half of its 20 million inhabitants are possibly infected with the coronavirus.
Separate tests conducted by diagnostic company Thyrocare Technologies on more than 700,000 people in India showed that 55% of the population may have already been infected, its chief told Reuters last week.
The World Health Organization says at least 60 to 70% of the population must have immunity to break the distribution chain.
India reported 11,039 new cases on Wednesday. Deaths rose by 110 to 154,596. Infections and deaths have declined significantly since a mid-September peak of nearly 100,000 per day.
Its vaccination program, considered by the government to be the largest in the world, covers more than 4 million people in 18 days, with the goal of reaching 300 million by August.
(Reported by Krishna N. Das; edited by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
Originally published