Madhurima
NEW DELHI: Harsh Vardhan, the Union Health Minister has said that the COVID-19 virus which has infiltrated most of the world and also our nation is a 'blessing in disguise' since it gave propulsion to so many projects and activities under the 'Make in India' initiative.
The minister addressed a video conference with autonomous institutes and PSUs (Public Sector Undertakings) within the Department of Biotechnology where he said, "This pandemic has come as a blessing in disguise for India as lots of activities have also started in 'Make in India. We are now manufacturing PPEs and have over a hundred manufacturers in the country. We are making 1 lakh to 1.5 lakh PPEs every day in the country."
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He also said that the entire nation is counting on the scientists of the county, be it for discovery for a new drug or a positive trial of drugs which are being used currently, discovering a vaccine or even indigenous kits for testing.
The health minister also said that before the lockdown got initiated, the cases were doubling within 3 days in India, but since the last 14 days the rate is 8.2% and for the last 7 days it was 10.2%. In the last 3 days, it's 10.9%. "This is a very significant progress," he added.
Harsh Vardhan mentioned, "A hundred and 29 districts where there are a significant number of cases, around 15 or less, we call them hotspots. These are the places where we are focusing our approach on cluster containment and disease outbreak containment strategies. There is a house to house survey in five kilometres area. Right now in the last 24 hours, there are 16 states which have not reported any new case."
The biotechnology department was also lauded by him and he mentioned that it has been supporting various companies in terms of developing a vaccine and research.
"We have made quite a progress in that direction. Genome sequencing activities have started on a thousand viruses in biotechnology. Indigenous antibody test kits and RT-PCR kits are doing an exemplary job and ICMR ramped up their testing capacity. Right now we have our indigenous kits," said minister Harsh Varshan.
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He also revealed, "We all have to see that we deliver results which could be converted into a useful implementable solution for the people of India."
