Less Than 10% of Global Population Have Coronavirus Antibodies

Less Than 10% of Global Population Have Coronavirus Antibodies - WHO

18 August 2020 Printable Version

Geneva - According to the available studies, less than 10 percent of the global population have evidence of antibodies against COVID-19, Maria Van Kerkhove, the technical lead of COVID-19 response at the World Health Organization (WHO), said on Tuesday.

"I don't want to over-generalize, but what we learn from the studies available to date is less than 10 percent of the population has evidence of antibodies against SARS CoV-2 virus," Van Kerkhove told a virtual briefing.

"There are some higher seroprevalence rates among higher risk groups, for example, healthcare workers of sole frontline, workers who have been directly exposed to the virus, in some areas with intense transmission. And those seropositivity rates go around 20 percent, 25 percent, but again that means that a large proportion of the population remains susceptible," she added.