Insights from a Pan India Sero-Epidemiological survey (Phenome-India Cohort) for SARS-CoV-2
Authors: Naushin Salwa , Sardana Viren , Ujjainiya Rajat , Bhatheja Nitin , Kutum Rintu , Bhaskar Akash Kumar , Pradhan Shalini , Prakash Satyartha , Khan Raju , Rawat Birendra Singh , Tallapaka Karthik Bharadwaj , Anumalla Mahesh , Chandak Giriraj Ratan , Lahiri Amit , Kar Susanta , Mulay Shrikant Ramesh , Mugale Madhav Nilakanth , Srivastava Mrigank , Khan Shaziya , Srivastava Anjali , Tomar Bhawna , Veerapandian Murugan , Venkatachalam Ganesh , Vijayakumar Selvamani Raja , Agarwal Ajay , Gupta Dinesh , Halami Prakash M , Peddha Muthukumar Serva , Sundaram Gopinath M , Veeranna Ravindra P , Pal Anirban , Agarwal Vinay Kumar , Maurya Anil Ku , Singh Ran Vijay Kumar , Raman Ashok Kumar , Anandasadagopan Suresh Kumar , Karuppanan Parimala , Venkatesan Subramanian , Sardana Harish Kumar , Kothari Anamika , Jain Rishabh , Thakur Anupma , Parihar Devendra Singh , Saifi Anas , Kaur Jasleen , Kumar Virendra , Mishra Avinash , Goger Iranna , Rayasam Geethavani , Singh Praveen , Chakraborty Rahul , Chaturvedi Gaura , Karunakar Pinreddy , Yadav Rohit , Singhmar Sunanda , Singh Dayanidhi , Sarkar Sharmistha , Bhattacharya Purbasha , Acharya Sundaram , Singh Vandana , Verma Shweta , Soni Drishti , Seth Surabhi , Vashisht Shakshi , Thakran Sarita , Fatima Firdaus , Singh Akash Pratap , Sharma Akanksha , Sharma Babita , Subramanian Manikandan , Padwad Yogendra , Hallan Vipin , Patial Vikram , Singh Damanpreet , Tirpude Narendra Vijay , Chakrabarti Partha , Maity Sujay Krishna , Ganguly Dipyaman , Sarkar Jit , Ramakrishna Sistla , Kumar Balthu Narender , Kumar A Kiran , Gandhi Sumit G. , Jamwal Piyush Singh , Chouhan Rekha , Jamwal Vijay Lakshmi , Kapoor Nitika , Ghosh Debashish , Thakkar Ghanshyam , Subudhi Umakanta , Sen Pradip , Chaudhury Saumya Ray , Kumar Rashmi , Gupta Pawan , Tuli Amit , Sharma Deepak , Ringe Rajesh P. , D Amarnarayan , Kulkarni Mahesh , Shanmugam Dhanasekaran , Dharne Mahesh S , Dastager Syed G. , Joshi Rakesh , Patil Amita P. , Mahajan Sachin N. , Khan Abu Junaid , Wagh Vasudev , Yadav Rakeshkumar , Khilari Ajinkya , Bhadange Mayuri , Chaurasiya Arvindkumar H. , Kulsange Shabda E , Khairnar Krishna , Paranjape Shilpa , Kalita Jatin , Sastry G. Narahari , Phukan Tridip , Manna Prasenjit , Romi Wahengbam , Bharali Pankaj , Ozah Dibyajyoti , Sahu Ravi Kumar , Babu Elapavalooru V.S.S.K. , Sukumaran Rajeev , Nair Aiswarya R , Kooloth-Valappil Prajeesh , Puthiyamadam Anoop , Velayudhanpillai Adarsh , Chodankar Kalpana , Damare Samir , Madhavi Yennapu , Aggarwal Ved Varun , Dahiya Sumit , Agrawal Anurag , Dash Debasis , Sengupta Shantanu 
Published: January 2021

To understand the spread of SARS-CoV2, in August and September 2020, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (India), conducted a sero-survey across its constituent laboratories and centers across India. Of 10,427 volunteers, 1058 (10.14%) tested positive for SARS CoV2 anti-nucleocapsid (anti-NC) antibodies; 95% with surrogate neutralization activity. Three-fourth recalled no symptoms. Repeat serology tests at 3 (n=346) and 6 (n=35) months confirmed stability of antibody response and neutralization potential. Local sero-positivity was higher in densely populated cities and was inversely correlated with a 30 day change in regional test positivity rates (TPR). Regional seropositivity above 10% was associated with declining TPR. Personal factors associated with higher odds of sero-positivity were high-exposure work (Odds Ratio, 95% CI, p value; 2·23, 1·92–2·59, 6·5E-26), use of public transport (1·79, 1·43–2·24, 2·8E-06), not smoking (1·52, 1·16–1·99, 0·02), non-vegetarian diet (1·67, 1·41–1·99, 3·0E-08), and B blood group (1·36,1·15-1·61, 0·001).

Impact Statement

Widespread asymptomatic and undetected SARS-CoV2 infection affected more than a 100 million Indians by September 2020. Declining new cases thereafter may be due to persisting humoral immunity amongst sub-communities with high exposure.

Funding

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India (CSIR)