Only 16% of people living outdoors in slums in the same spaces were exposed to infections.
The effects came here from randomized tests on 7,000 other people in 3 densely populated spaces in early July.
Mumbai reported more than 110,000 and 6,187 deaths as of July 28.
The survey was conducted through the city’s municipality, the Niti Aayog government expert group and the Tata Institute for Fundamental Research.
He revealed that 57% of the other people examined in the slums of Chembur, Matunga and Dahisar had been exposed to the new coronavirus.
Scientists concerned about him told the BBC that the effects indicated a number of things about the prevalence of infection in one of India’s hardest-hit cities.
Scientists, the proven pattern was “statistically sound” and representative.
“The 3 spaces we decided for testing had a variable number of coronavirus infections reported, and this is an addition of slums, self-employed houses and housing complexes. The concept for seeing whether population density led to adjustments in the prevalence of infection. Dr Ullas S Kolthur of the Tata Institute for Fundamental Research (TIFR) told the BBC.
Scientists say the survey is not intended to be representative of the prevalence of coronavirus infection in the city; were held in 3 of the 24 “neighborhoods” or administrative unit areas.
“But we believe that the prevalence rate in other regions is not far from the survey figures,” said Dr. Sandeep Juneja, also at TIFR.
Citywide surveys in other primary cities revealed a decrease in the prevalence rate among the population.
One in six Londoners and one in five New Yorkers tested positive for antibodies, according to surveys conducted in May and July, respectively. A government investigation in Delhi in July revealed that almost one in 4 citizens of the Indian capital had been exposed to Covid-19.
The maximum prevalence rate in Mumbai’s slums can be partly explained by the fact that citizens represent non-unusual services, such as baths.
“The effects showed how other people in an elevated position play a key role in spreading the infection,” Dr. Juneja said.
The test also found that a large proportion of other people had become inflamed and survived without few or no symptoms, resulting in a low mortality rate in these spaces: one in 1,000 to one in 2000. It also reduces the city-wide mortality rate of COVID-19.
And more people have been exposed to HIV infection in slums and not slums.
“It’s very interesting. We don’t know why. It can be anything from social habits to underlying physiological differences,” Dr. Kolthur said.
With the slowdown of instances in Mumbai, research also raises the question of whether the city is adopting collective immunity against infection. Mumbai reported 717 new infections on Tuesday, the lowest in 3 months. Collective immunity is achieved when there are enough other people immune to a virus to prevent its spread.
“The jury is still at this point. On the one hand, we still know how long immunity to infections lasts. We will know the answer until the investigations are repeated,” says Dr. Kolthur.
The survey will be repeated in all 3 spaces in August to determine whether the prevalence of infection has increased or decreased, providing clues about the Covid-19 trajectory in the city.
The other challenge with Covid-19 antibodies, scientists say, is that their grades would have dropped by 90 days. “What will this do for collective immunity or vaccines?” He recently wrote K Srinath Reddy, president of the Public Health Foundation of India.
He says we still don’t know enough about how the ongoing encounter between us and the virus shapes our immune response. All we can do, Dr. Reddy writes, is “wait with hope.”