The first sero survey in Andhra Pradesh across four of its districts has revealed that majority of the Covid-19 patients, which is nearly 97 per cent are asymptomatic.

The state which has seen the spread of the virus by leaps and bound in the past few weeks has conducted sero survey in four districts including Krishna, East Godavari, Anantapur and Nellore.

Percentage of asymptomatic patients in Anantapur and Krishna districts are 99.5 and 99.4 per cent while in East Godavari it is 92.8 and in Nellore 96.1 per cent.

When it comes to overall seroprevalence which indicates the number of persons in a population who test positive for the virus , Krishna district has 21.7 per cent, followed by Anantapur with 16.7 and East Godavari and Nellore reported 14.4 and 8.2 per cent.

Vijayawada in Krishna district which is currently the capital has over 40 per cent sero prevalence.

The district also ticks other wrong boxes with 22 per cent prevalence among high risk population while in the remaining three districts it hovers between 10-12 per cent.

Moreover, it is only the district among the four where the prevalence of the virus among women (24.8 per cent) is more than the male population (19.1). In Krishna district, 35.2 per cent of the urban population has been exposed to the virus while in case of rural population it is about 14.8 per cent.

A population based sero survey helps to understand the proportion of population exposed to SAR-CoV-2 virus including asymptomatic individuals.
It can be an useful tool to guide policy makers and appropriate public health interventions.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has advised states to conduct sero-survey to determine Covid-19 exposure in the population. However, not everybody agrees with its effectiveness at this juncture.

“Sero survey of SARS-CoV2 antibodies when the infection is surging may have little utility, especially when resources are scarce. These resources should be deployed for patient management and pandemic control,” observed Dr PV Ramesh, a retired IAS officer who had been at the forefront of AP’s preparation against Covid-19.

Meanwhile, in Telangana, the school education department has permitted online classes on various digital/ TV/T-SAT platforms from 1 September.

Teachers are required to attend schools regularly from 27 August and prepare e-content and lesson plans and the state government will follow the Centre’s guidelines on physical re-opening of schools.

The private schools in the state however, have been carrying on online lessons from June and it was only after being nudged by the High Court that the state government started gearing up to prepare a policy.