More than 50 per cent of the 30 million plus residents of New Delhi, India, has had COVID-19, and fully recovered from the disease, a new study has shown.

State Health Minister Satyendar Jain said that a fifth serological survey done by the state government, involving around 28,000 samples taken from Jan 15 to 23, showed that antibodies have been detected in 56.13 per cent of the population.

"This means that all these people had COVID at some point and now have fully recovered," he reportedly told the press on Tuesday.

The last survey had found only about 26 per cent with the antibodies.

"This means Delhi is inching towards herd immunity. Cases are also declining at less than 200 per day and low positivity rates.

"But I would appeal not let your guard down. Keep your masks on," Satyendar reportedly said.

The survey also showed that the number of females with antibodies outnumbered the males.

India recorded 8,635 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours - the lowest single-day rise in over eight months.

To date, the country has over 10.7 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus, and over 154,000 deaths from the disease - placing only after United States in the list of countries hit worse by the pandemic.

The country began its mass vaccination programme on Jan 16, aiming to inoculate 300 million people by the end of July.

The global coronavirus infection and death tally has surpassed 104 million, and 2.26 million, respectively.


Source: The Economic Times, The Star
Photo source: ndtv.com