Seroprevalence of COVID-19 among health workers in the Kathmandu valley, Nepal (SEVID-KaV): a longitudinal cohort study

Abstract

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) burden is often underestimated when relying on case-based incidence reports. Seroprevalence studies accurately estimate infectious disease burden by estimating the population that has developed antibodies following an infection. Sero-Epidemiology of COVID-19 in the Kathmandu valley (SEVID-KaV) is a longitudinal survey of hospital-based health workers in the Kathmandu valley. Between December 3-25, we sampled 800 health workers from 20 hospitals and administered a questionnaire eliciting COVID-19 related history and tested for COVID-19 IgG antibodies. We then used a probabilistic multilevel regression model with post-stratification to correct for test accuracy, the effect of hospital-based clustering, and to establish representativeness. 522 (65.2%) of the participants were female, 372 (46%) were between ages 18-29, and 7 (0.9%) were 60 or above. 287 (36%) of the participants were nurses. About 23% of the participants previously had a PCR positive infection. 321 (40.13%) individuals tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies. Adjusted for test accuracy and weighted by age, gender and occupation category, the seroprevalence was 38.17% (95% Credible Interval (CrI) 29.26%–47.82%). Posterior predictive hospital-wise seroprevalence ranged between 38.1% (95% CrI 30.7.0%– 44.1%) and 40.5% (95% CrI 34.7%–47.0%).

The Second Wave of COVID-19 in South and Southeast Asia and the Effects of Vaccination

“…Another serological study ( 12 ) found that the prevalence of IgG antibody (indication of past infection) to SARS-CoV-2 was 11.4% in East Java, Indonesia. A serological study ( 13 ) among healthcare workers in the Kathmandu valley, Nepal, showed a 23% positivity for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing. SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence study ( 14 ) indicated that a symptom-based PCR-testing strategy missed 62% of COVID-19 diagnoses, and ~36% of individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection were asymptomatic.…”

“…Another serological study (12) found that the prevalence of IgG antibody (indication of past infection) to SARS-CoV-2 was 11.4% in East Java, Indonesia. A serological study (13) among healthcare workers in the Kathmandu valley, Nepal, showed a 23% positivity A-G)] where variants sequenced data are available (8). We only show these strains with a maximum percentage > 20%.…”

Twice evasions of Omicron variants explain the temporal patterns in six Asia and Oceania countries

“…A longitudinal seroprevalence study [20] based on hospital health workers in the Kathmandu valley, Nepal, found that the overall posterior predictive hospital-wise seroprevalence ranged between 38.1% (95% CrI 30.7.0%-44.1%) and 40.5% (95% CrI 34.7%-47.0%). This result suggested that a substantial proportion of health workers in Kathmandu have been infected with COVID-19 by the end of 2020.…”