Their presence in blood indicates the individual has ever been infected — even if that person never showed symptoms. "Antibody testing suggests many more Kenyans have already been exposed to Covid-19 than have been identified by surveillance activities," Kemri says in a policy brief, released early this week. Kemri estimates about 550,000 people in Nairobi and roughly 100,000 in Mombasa, have already contracted and recovered from Covid-19, probably gaining some immunity. The researchers said they tested only 2,535 blood samples, and it is possible they over-estimated the number of people who have been exposed to Covid-19. "The ideal way of estimating exposure to Covid-19 in the Kenyan population would be visiting randomly selected homesteads to collect and then test blood samples.

Source: The Star July 02, 2020 20:03 UTC