COVID-19

With the announcement of COVAXIN by Bharat Biotech and ZyCov-D Vaccine by Zydus Cadila the proverbial silver line in the dark clouds of COVID19 appears at the horizon. Now the nod given by the Drug Controller General of India CDSCO (The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation) for the conduct of the human trial for the vaccines, marks the beginning of the end.

Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has given approval for human clinical trials of COVAXIN, the first potential COVID-19 Vaccine developed in India. The potential vaccine has been developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech, in association with Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR). Human Trials for Phase I and Phase II are scheduled to start across the country from next month.

 Amidst ever-increasing cases of coronavirus, efforts are being made to speed up testing of suspects of COVID-19 carriers, especially in the interior parts of the country. In one such initiative, a mobile diagnostic unit I-Lab (Infectious disease diagnostic lab) has been launched on Thursday by Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Minister of Science and Technology, Health and Family Welfare and Earth Sciences. The I-Lab is expected to help in the expansion of COVID-19 testing in remote areas.

Accurate testing is important to get out of the clutches of novel coronavirus. Steeping up efforts in this regard, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati, in association with RR Animal Healthcare Ltd and Guwahati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), has developed low-cost diagnostic kits. These are Viral Transport Media (VTM) kits, RT-PCR kits, and RNA isolation kits. Himanta Biswa Sarma, the Minister of Finance, Health and Family Welfare, Assam, launched the VTM kits.

The Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI), Lucknow, has received permission from Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for carrying out Phase III clinical trials to test the efficacy, safety and tolerability of the antiviral drug Umifenovir. The Phase III activities will be carried out at King George's Medical University (KGMU), Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences (RMLIMS) and ERA's Lucknow Medical College and Hospital, Lucknow.

New modelling research, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal, suggests the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) that causes COVID-19 may spread more easily among people living together and family members than severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) or Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). The estimates are the first of their kind to quantify symptomless transmission.

The NIHR-funded and supported study RECOVERY (Randomised Evaluation of COVid-19 thERapY) has today announced that the steroid dexamethasone has been identified as the first drug to improve survival rates in certain coronavirus patients.