Government News

“The Union Minister of Science and Technology, Earth Sciences, and Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said today that India’s fight against the COVID-19 is moving fast ahead strongly and steadily. He was addressing a digital conference, RE-START – ‘Reboot the Economy through Science, Technology and Research Translations’, organized to celebrate the National Technology Day. The Conference was organized by the Technology Development Board (TDB), a statutory body of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

To urgently develop safe and effective Biomedical solutions against SARS CoV-2, Department of Biotechnology and Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) had invited applications for COVID-19 Research Consortium. In addition, BIRAC has also created a provision to fund COVID-19 solutions that are ready for immediate deployment under a ‘Fast Track Review Process’.

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)-National Institute of Virology (NIV) at Pune has developed and validated the indigenous IgG ELISA test “COVID KAVACH ELISA” for antibody detection for COVID-19.

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) have partnered to develop a fully indigenous vaccine for COVID-19 using the virus strain isolated at ICMR’s National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune.

Health Minister Sh. Harsh Vardhan and Minister of State for AYUSH  Sh. Shripad Yesso Naik jointly launched clinical research studies on Ayurveda interventions as an add-on to standard care to COVID 19 situation and Ayush Sanjivani application today at New Delhi. AYUSH Minister was participating in the programme through Video Conferencing from Goa.

In spite of problems in procurement & logistics due to COVID-19 lockdown, Pradhanmantri  Bhartiya Jan aushadhi Kendras –PMBJAK ,achieved a record sales turnover of  52 crore rupees in the month of April  2020 compared to 42 crore rupees in March 2020. It was 17 crore in April 2019.

CSIR-Central Scientific Instruments Organisation (CSIR-CSIO), Chandigarh, has designed and developed an innovative technology for effective disinfection and sanitization to fight with corona pandemic. CSIR-CSIO has transferred this technology to a Nagpur-based company, Rite Water Solutions Pvt. Ltd., for commercialization and large-scale production. This technology has been found very efficient and effective to stop the spread of coronavirus and pathogens, say CSIR-CSIO scientists.

DCGI gives permission for approval of protocol for a multi-center two arm prospective, phase-II open labeled randomized controlled trial of convalescent plasma in COVID-19 patients.