Nearly 45% of people in Dhaka have been found to be carrying COVID-19 antibodies, with the rate climbing to 74% among slum-dwellers in the Bangladeshi capital, according to a new study. The finding is based on a study conducted by the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), Bangladesh and International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b). The national-level study found the presence of the virus in 9.8% of samples that were tested. The study also found that 82% of the COVID 19 cases were asymptomatic in the city.
The research by the national agency found that the virus was present in 9.8% of the tested samples, largely coming from the city’s congested slum dwellings. About 74% of these slum inhabitants have antibodies. One of the most densely populated cities of the world, Dhaka has a population of 21 million. The tests were carried out on 12,699 people across the 25 wards of the city. According to the study, 24% of the positive patients are above 60 years of age, while 18% of those infected fell in the bracket of 15-19-year-olds. Over 80% of the individuals tested were asymptomatic, while only one per cent of those with symptoms had to be hospitalized. The researchers also found some information about COVID19 reinfection through their work.
During the programme organised to present the findings of the study, Dr Ferdausi Qadri, senior scientist of the icddr,b, said that the rate of seropositivity among the study population of Dhaka indicates people have started developing herd immunity against the Covid-19. However, calling it scientifically and ethically problematic, WHO warned against allowing the COVID 19 virus to spread in the hope of achieving ‘herd immunity’. The WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu said in Geneva that herd community is a concept used for vaccination, in which a population can be protected from a certain virus if a threshold of vaccination is reached. He said that never in the history of public health has herd immunity been used as a strategy for responding to an outbreak, let alone a pandemic.
Health Minister Zahid Maleque, who participated at the event via video link, said: “The government has acted quickly to prevent the transmission of the novel coronavirus. Due to this, the prevalence of coronavirus in the country is low. “Compared to many other countries, Bangladesh has done well in controlling coronavirus.” Bangladesh is one of the worst-hit South Asian countries after India, has so far reported more than 380,000 coronavirus cases, with 5,555 deaths.
