Answer:
COVID-19 is a new disease that has affected the lives of all South Africans. There is still a lot to learn about COVID-19 and how it has affected communities. Our primary aim is to:
Determine the extent of COVID-19 virus infection in the general population and age-specific infection prevalence, as determined by seropositivity (testing positive for COVID on an COVID-19 antibody test)
Determine the amount/percentage of asymptomatic or subclinical COVID-19 infections;
To determine the incidence rate of COVID-19 infections as determined by change from negative to positive serostatus in an embedded cohort of respondents in metropolitan municipalities (viz., Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg and Nelson Mandela Bay).
This information is important to guide in planning and decision-making for preventing future waves of the pandemic in South Africa, as well as to help ensure that health facilities are available to those who need it.
Our secondary aims are to:
Determine risk factors for COVID-19 virus infection
Estimate the prevalence of Covid-19 antibodies in age and sex sub-groups
Assess antibody levels quantitatively and neutralising antibody concentrations for future comparisons with correlates of protection for herd immunity estimations
& to assess cytotoxic T-cell responses in a sub-group of respondents who have and do not have antibody responses, in order to identify what proportion of individuals may have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 but do not have detectable antibodies.
