ArticleJournal of infection and public health2021
Nationwide Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in Saudi Arabia.
Article in Journal of infection and public health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers.
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 1 citations in OpenAlex.
- Durability of COVID-19 vaccine-induced immunity in Saudi Arabia: evidence, gaps, and implications for Hajj and mass-gathering preparedness.Frontiers in public health · 2026Review
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- Periodontitis is associated with altered salivary anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody patterns in vaccinated individuals.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- Awareness of Post-COVID-19 Syndrome Among the General Population of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.Cureus · 2024Article
- Health of Saudi Women in the Post-Pandemic Era:International journal of women's health · 2024Article
- The COVID-19 experience in Africa and the Middle East.Annals of medicine · 2023Review
- Article
- Salivary Antibody Responses to Two COVID-19 Vaccines following Different Vaccination Regimens.Vaccines · 2023Article
- Assessment of the Prevalence and Incidence of COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 2023Review
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- The Association between SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Diabetic Ketoacidosis in Patients with New-Onset Diabetes: A Retrospective Study from a Diabetic Center in Saudi Arabia.Pediatric reports · 2022Article
- Article
- Low Prevalence of Syndromic Respiratory Tract Infections among Returning Hajj Pilgrims Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Post-Hajj Survey.Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2022Article
- A pre-vaccine exploratory survey of SARS-CoV-2 humoral immunity among Egyptian general population.Tropical medicine and health · 2022Article
- Prevalence and determinants of SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies in Lebanon.Archives of virology · 2022Article
- Syndromic surveillance of respiratory-tract infections and hand hygiene practice among pilgrims attended Hajj in 2021: a cohort study.BMC infectious diseases · 2022Article
- Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in healthcare workers at a tertiary care hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.IJID regions · 2022Article
- Seroprevalence of COVID-19 in Blood Donors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Advances in virology · 2022Review
- Persistence of Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Spike IgG Antibodies Following COVID-19 Vaccines.Infection and drug resistance · 2022Article
- Effect of non-pharmaceutical interventions in the early phase of the COVID-19 epidemic in Saudi Arabia.PLOS global public health · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
19 authors at 7 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundEstimated seroprevalence of Coronavirus Infectious Disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a critical evidence for a better evaluation of the virus spread and monitoring the progress of COVID-19 pandemic in a population. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence has been reported in specific regions, but an extensive nationwide study has not been reported. Here, we report a nationwide study to determine the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in the population of KSA during the pandemic, using serum samples from healthy blood donors, non-COVID patients and healthcare workers (HCWs) in six different regions of the kingdom, with addition samples from COVID-19 patients.
methodsA total of 11,703 serum samples were collected from different regions of the KSA including; 5395 samples from residual healthy blood donors (D); 5877 samples from non-COVID patients collected through residual sera at clinical biochemistry labs from non-COVID patients (P); and 400 samples from consented HCWs. To determine the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2, all serum samples, in addition to positive control sera from RT-PCR confirmed COVID-19 patients, were subjected to in-house ELISA with a sample pooling strategy, which was further validated by testing individual samples that make up some of the pools, with a statistical estimation method to report seroprevalence estimates.
resultsOverall (combining D and P groups) seroprevalence estimate was around 11% in Saudi Arabia; and was 5.1% (Riyadh), 1.5% (Jazan), 18.4% (Qassim), 20.8% (Hail), 14.7% (ER; Alahsa), and 18.8% in Makkah. Makkah samples were only D group and had a rate of 24.4% and 12.8% in the cities of Makkah and Jeddah, respectively. The seroprevalence in Saudi Arabia across the sampled areas would be 12 times the reported COVID-19 infection rate. Among HCWs, 7.5% (4.95-10.16 CI 95%) had reactive antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 without reporting any previously confirmed infection. This was higher in HCWs with hypertension. The study also presents the demographics and prevalence of co-morbidities in HCWs and subset of non-COVID-19 population.
interpretationOur study estimates the overall national serological prevalence of COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia to be 11%, with an apparent disparity between regions. This indicates the prevalence of asymptomatic or mild unreported COVID-19 cases.
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