SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Seroprevalence in Wuhan, China, from 23 April to 24 May 2020.

ABSTRACT

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first reported in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. To investigate the prevalence of COVID-19 in Wuhan, we conducted serologic tests on 35,326 individuals from four different communities to estimate cumulative incidence of infection. Our results showed that 1,332 individuals (3.77%) showed positive COVID-19 antibody (either IgM or IgG). Males had a lower positivity rate than females (3.02% versus 4.52%). The antibody positivity rates showed a clear trend of increase according to patients' ages and varied among different communities. The results indicate that public health interventions may play important roles in the control of COVID-19.IMPORTANCE Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first detected in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. Afterwards, a number of public health interventions were implemented, including lock-down, face mask ordinances, and social distancing. Studies that rely on viral RNA testing of symptomatic patients have shown that these multifaceted interventions contributed to the control of the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan and delayed the epidemic's progression. However, these estimates of confirmed cases may miss large numbers of asymptomatic patients and recovered symptomatic patients who were not tested. To investigate the prevalence of COVID-19 in Wuhan, we conducted serologic tests on 35,326 individuals to estimate the cumulative incidence of infection. The results suggest that public health interventions may play important roles in the control of COVID-19.