Sammendrag
COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.
Infection with SARS-CoV-2 induces antibodies to the virus, therefore the presence of
these antibodies in a person’s blood indicates that the person has been infected with
SARS-CoV-2. This is the first study measuring antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in serum
samples collected systematically from various geographical regions in Norway and
covering all age groups. A total of 900 residual sera from nine laboratories were
sampled in week numbers 17-20, 2020, and tested for antibodies against SARS-CoV-2
using a novel in-house assay established at the Department of Immunology, Oslo
University Hospital. Based on these measurements, the estimated seroprevalence in the
Norwegian population is probably close to 1% (1.0% (95% credible interval 0.1% -
2.4%)). We did not find any differences in seroprevalence by gender or age group.
However, there seem to be geographical differences in the prevalence of seropositive
individuals; there was a non-significant trend indicating that the number of positive
samples and the estimated seroprevalence was higher in Oslo than in other regions.
However, the sample size was limited as not all counties were included, and only an
average number of 100 samples have been collected from each laboratory. Therefore,
these results should be interpreted with caution. Follow-up studies of antibodies against
SARS-CoV-2 in future collections of residual sera can provide further information about
the development of the COVID-19 pandemic in Norway.
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