ABSTRACT
The coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic gripped the world with a shock, thereby overwhelming the health system of most nations. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the novel human coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, which began in Wuhan, China, on December 8, 2019, a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on January 30, 2020 (WHO, 2020). The global impact of Covid-19 has led to an increased need to continuously assess disease surveillance tools across the young population especially in the Universities. This study was conducted to determine the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies amongst the students of the faculty of engineering, University of Benin. STANDARDTM Q COVID 19 IgG/IgM combo test (SD Biosensor) was used for the detection of IgG and IgM antibodies, the manufacturer reports a specificity of 96.94% (95/98, 95% CI, 91.31% -99.36%) after 14 days after symptoms onset and a standard specificity of 95.74% (225/235, 95% CI: 92.31–97.94%). A cross-sectional survey was conducted also on risk factors, symptoms, predisposition for becoming vaccinated, and sources of information about Covid-19, Covid-19-like symptoms in the past 7 days prior to the cross sectional study. Data from the cross sectional study were collected using Open Data Kit (ODK) App to allow real-time transmission of data and monitoring of data quality. The cross-sectional study sample comprised of 16 subjects and a knowledge and aptitude test questions for the participants, and the response rate for the survey was 100% (591/591). We conducted a multiple randomised sampling and the systemic sampling approach. The first stage comprising of randomly different locations within the University and then selecting the nth students we came across (n=3). Ekosodin back gate, anatomy back gate, June 12, hall of residence bus stop and the University main gate were the locations selected for the study.
