Press Release – University of Auckland
New Zealand’s first nationwide survey to detect Covid-19 antibodies in blood showed a very low prevalence, highlighting the success of efforts to eliminate the disease.
Associate Professor Nikki Moreland said: “We found a very low rate of Covid antibodies in our survey population (0.10 percent). This means that undetected community transmission has been very low and is evidence that New Zealand’s elimination strategy has been a success.”
Dr Moreland and her team at the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at the University of Auckland, are adept at Covid-19 serology, testing that detects the presence of antibodies in blood. It has been estimated that up to 15 percent of people contracting Covid-19 have no symptoms but remain infectious.
Hannah Peters/Getty Images They then used serology testing, which reveals antibodies that remain many months after infection. Standard Covid-19 DNA tests only detect the virus when it is present during an infection. Of the 9806 samples, 18 tested positive for antibodies. Six of those were identified as previously-confirmed Covid-19 infections, while four came from people who had travelled from the United Kingdom and Europe, suggesting infection had happened outside New Zealand. The remaining eight positive samples were unexplained, suggesting they were previously undetected cases of community transmission. Those eight cases were spread out and came from seven district health board regions throughout New Zealand.
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