Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in the West Bank region of Palestine: a cross-sectional seroepidemiological study
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Abstract
Seroprevalence rates are important indicators to the epidemiology of COVID-19 and the extent of the pandemic given the existence of asymptomatic cases. The purpose of this study is to assess the seroprevalence rate in the Palestinian population residing in the West Bank.
Setting
The study involved 1355 participants from 11 governorates, including 112 localities in the West Bank and 1136 individuals visiting Palestinian medical laboratories.
Participants
Blood samples were collected between 15th June 2020 and 30th June 2020 from 1355 individuals from randomly selected households in the West Bank, in addition to 1136 individuals visiting Palestinian medical laboratories between the 1st May 2020 and 9th July 2020 for a routine check-up.
Primary and secondary outcome measures
Out of the 2491 blood samples collected, serological tests for 2455 adequate serum samples were done using an immunoassay for qualitative detection of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. Seroprevalence was estimated as the proportion of individuals who had a positive result in the total SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the immunoassay.
Results
The random sample of Palestinians living in the West Bank yielded 0% seroprevalence with 95% and an adjusted CI (0% to 0.0043%), while the lab referral samples yielded an estimated seroprevalence of 0.354% with 95% and an adjusted CI (0.001325% to 0.011566%).
Conclusions
Our results indicate that as of mid-June 2020, seroprevalence in Palestine persists low and is inadequate to provide herd immunity, emphasising the need to maintain health measures to keep the outbreak under control. Population-based seroprevalence studies are to be conducted periodically to monitor the SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in Palestine and inform policymakers about the efficacy of their surveillance system.
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SciScore for 10.1101/2020.08.28.20180083: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Institutional Review Board Statement IRB: Approval from National ethical committee was obtained (PHRC/HC/737/20).
Consent: Written informed consent was obtained from the 1355 study participants and approvals were obtained from Medicare laboratories for samples to be tested.Randomization The process for conducting cluster sampling was carried as follows: (1) Selecting a cluster of households, (2) Selecting 10 households randomly from each cluster and (3) Selecting a person at random from the selected household. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Table 2: Resources
Antibodies Sentences Resources Detection of antibodies: Serological tests for 2455 … SciScore for 10.1101/2020.08.28.20180083: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Institutional Review Board Statement IRB: Approval from National ethical committee was obtained (PHRC/HC/737/20).
Consent: Written informed consent was obtained from the 1355 study participants and approvals were obtained from Medicare laboratories for samples to be tested.Randomization The process for conducting cluster sampling was carried as follows: (1) Selecting a cluster of households, (2) Selecting 10 households randomly from each cluster and (3) Selecting a person at random from the selected household. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Table 2: Resources
Antibodies Sentences Resources Detection of antibodies: Serological tests for 2455 adequate serum samples were done using an Immunoassay for the qualitative detection of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 (Elecsys® Anti-SARS-CoV-2) in human serum by using the Cobas analyzer cobas e 411 (Roche). Anti-SARS-CoV-2suggested: NoneResults from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.
Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.
Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.
Results from rtransparent:- Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- No protocol registration statement was detected.
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