The fact that the sero prevalence in the State is 42.7% against the national average of 67.6% indicates that herd immunity against COVID is still a long way off in Kerala. The ICMR’s fourth round of sero survey was done in the same 70 districts across the country where the first three rounds had been held. In the first round in May, Kerala’s sero prevalence had been 0.33% (national average of 0.73%), in August it was 0.88% (6.6%) and in December it was 11.6% (21%). The ICMR said that in the fourth round of the survey, about 57% of the children in the 6-17 years age group had antibodies against COVID. It recommended that children are relatively protected against COVID and that when schools are reopened, primary schools should be opened first.

Source: The Hindu July 23, 2021 15:45 UTC