Large-scale antibody testing reveals that over 2 million Muscovites may already have contracted Covid-19

Almost 20 percent of Moscow residents tested for coronavirus antibodies have been found to be immune, according to the capital’s deputy mayor, Anastasia Rakova.

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“The third stage of testing for herd immunity to Covid-19 was carried out between June 5 and 18,” she said. “Today, 19.9 percent ​​of Muscovites have antibodies to coronavirus. This is 2.5 percent more than the results of the second stage of testing. Overall, we can say that 7 percent of Muscovites have gained immunity in the last month.”

During this two-week period, 90,000 residents of Europe’s largest city took an antibody test. In total, the city administration plans to check six million people.

Mass testing for Covid-19 antibodies began on May 15, when city mayor Sergey Sobyanin announced that the capital’s administration would be randomly inviting a cross-section of the population to be checked for free.

In early June, results announced by Russia’s consumer-rights watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, showed that 14 percent of tested Russians throughout the entire country have immunity to the virus.

As of Friday afternoon, Russia has confirmed 620,794 cases of Covid-19, with more than half of those (384,152) recovering. Moscow, the country’s most affected region, has over a third of the infections (218,604).

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