Seroprevalence Surveys for Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Antibody in Different Populations in Taiwan With Low Incidence of COVID-19 in 2020 and Severe Outbreaks of SARS in 2003

Abstract

Accurate detection of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies provides a more accurate estimation of incident cases, epidemic dynamics, and risk of community transmission. We conducted a cross-sectional seroprevalence study specifically targeting different populations to examine the performance of pandemic control in Taiwan: symptomatic patients with epidemiological risk and negative qRT-PCR test (Group P), frontline healthcare workers (Group H), healthy adult citizens (Group C), and participants with prior virologically-confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) infection in 2003 (Group S). The presence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 total and IgG antibodies in all participants were determined by Roche Elecsys® Anti-SARS-CoV-2 test and Abbott SARS-CoV-2 IgG assay, respectively. Sera that showed positive results by the two chemiluminescent immunoassays were further tested by three anti-SARS-CoV-2 lateral flow immunoassays and line immunoassay (MIKROGEN recomLine SARS-CoV-2 IgG). Between June 29 and July 25, 2020, sera of 2,115 participates, including 499 Group P participants, 464 Group H participants, 1,142 Group C participants, and 10 Group S participants, were tested. After excluding six false-positive samples, SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence were 0.4, 0, and 0% in Groups P, H, and C, respectively. Cross-reactivity with SARS-CoV-2 antibodies was observed in 80.0% of recovered SARS participants. Our study showed that rigorous exclusion of false-positive testing results is imperative for an accurate estimate of seroprevalence in countries with previous SARS outbreak and low COVID-19 prevalence. The overall SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence was extremely low among populations of different exposure risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2 in Taiwan, supporting the importance of integrated countermeasures in containing the spread of SARS-CoV-2 before effective COVID-19 vaccines available.