São Paulo has over 2 million coronavirus infections, says study

According to research carried out by the University of São Paulo, Federal University of São Paulo, medical laboratory group Fleury, and pollster Ibope, the city of São Paulo may have already had around 2.2 million coronavirus infections — corresponding to over one-quarter of the local population. According to official counts by the municipal government, there have been 352,953 confirmed Covid-19 cases in the city as of Wednesday afternoon.

The study analyzed the seroprevalence of 1,129 São Paulo residents aged over 18 and showed that 26.2 percent of samples contained coronavirus antibodies. Samples were taken at the beginning of October and the results showed a marked increase in antibody prevalence in comparison with the group’s last survey, held in July. At that point, 17.9 percent of participants possessed coronavirus antibodies.

The results were stratified by age, sex, ethnicity, education level, and area of residence, highlighting some trends that have been raised and identified nationwide. Black and multiracial participants showed a higher likelihood of possessing coronavirus antibodies — 31.6 percent, compared with around 20 percent for other ethnicities.

The highest disparity came when analyzing the level of education of the study’s participants. Those who had not completed secondary schooling were over twice as likely to have coronavirus antibodies than the segment of the population with university degrees.

Support this coverage →

• #outbreak
• #sãoPaulo