India study suggests millions more in New Delhi may have caught COVID-19

NEW DELHI: More than a quarter of New Delhi's 20 million residents may have caught the novel coronavirus without showing symptoms, a study released on Thursday (Aug 20) indicated, raising fresh doubts about India's official case numbers.

Extrapolated, the antibody study on 15,000 residents means 5.8 million people in the bustling capital could have caught the virus – more than 37 times the official tally of 156,139 infections.

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India is already officially the third worst-hit country after the US and Brazil.

The health ministry reported a record daily jump of 69,652 new infections on Thursday, taking the total to 2.84 million. Deaths rose by 977 to a total of 53,866.

READ: Former Indian president Pranab Mukherjee contracts COVID-19 as infection surge continues

On Thursday, Delhi health minister Satyendra Jain said blood tests on 15,000 residents conducted earlier this month found 29.1 per cent of them had virus antibodies.

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Scientists say, however, that antibody tests should be treated with caution because they also pick up other coronaviruses, not just the latest COVID-19.

A similar survey from June to July said 23 per cent of people tested had been exposed to the virus in the city.

Surveys in other Indian cities have also suggested more infections than the official numbers suggest.

In the western city of Pune, 51.5 per cent of respondents in five badly affected pockets had antibodies in their blood, a recent survey showed.

READ: Indian women on COVID-19 frontline strike for pay and protection

Another in late July found 57 per cent of those tested in Mumbai's slums had the infection – far more than official data suggests.

"Such studies are useful and necessary but it is important how it is interpreted," said Rajib Dasgupta, who heads the Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru UniversiRead More – Source