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Atleast 6 months more for human trials to commence for covid-19 vaccine in India: ICMR

New Delhi: According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, the human trials of Covid-19 vaccine might take at least 6 months to begin. The reports from India’s top medical centre has come amidst India’s rising cases of coronavirus as India has takes over Iran and landed at the 10th position of the most affected nations’ global list.

 

Dr. Rajni Kant, Director Regional Medical Research Centre and Head at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said, “The virus strain isolated at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) laboratory in Pune will be used to develop the vaccine, and this strain has been successfully transferred to the Bharat Biotech International Ltd. (BBIL). It is expected that the human trials of the vaccine will begin in at least six months.”

 

When asked about his opinions on India’s rapid increase in coronavirus cases and the total number reaching to a staggering 1.4 lakh, approximately, the head of ICMR said that we should not get nervous or worried about the growing numbers, especially in the past week, which saw a jump of 5000 covid-19 cases every day, and instead lay our prime focus on safeguarding the most vulnerable group of people. He advised to protect people who have more chances of contracting the disease like the aged and those with their immune system compromised.

 

“We should not fear from increasing Covid-19 cases. The elderly and people with co-morbidities need protection. This is the highly vulnerable group, and we need to deploy resources and develop strategies to keep the mortality rate as low as possible in this group,” said Kant.

Earlier, it was expected that India would be needing thousands of ventilators, but according to the health ministry’s statement last week, only 0.45% of covid-19 cases require ventilator support.

Kant urged that the five to ten percent serious patients should be given the utmost care and protection at this time, “We are testing more than one lakh daily and our case fatality rate is already one of the lowest in the world. In absence of vaccine, people should follow social distancing guidelines,” he added.

Regarding the rate of recoveries in the country, Mr. Kant shared that the recovery rate for the covid-19 patients is at 41 per cent at the moment and is a very good winning figure in our battle against the fatal virus.

The director of RMRC also said that the large population of cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad is the reason for the growing cases here as the virus is getting its perfect environment to flourish and spread its infection further, when queried about the curve not flattening in these areas.

He insisted on developing forceful and strong cluster management policies in the hard-hit coronavirus spots, and the movement of people should be reduced in these areas.

“Currently, a lot of people are moving around easily and avoiding social distancing norms. The first phase of the lockdown was very effective, but now things have changed,” added Kant.