Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday chaired a meeting of the special task force created to meet the challenge posed by the highly contagious coronavirus. The meeting was meant to discuss the progress in India’s efforts in vaccine development, drug discovery, diagnosis and testing.
After the meet, a statement from the government said more than 30 vaccines for coronavirus are in different stages of development. A few of them are at the trial stage.
Three approaches are being taken, where drug development is concerned. These include re-purposing existing drugs, development of new drugs and exploration of anti-viral properties of plant extracts and products.
Several research institutions and start-ups have developed new tests — both for RT-PCR approach and for the antibody detection, the government said. Also the capacity for both kinds of tests has received a boost by the linking of laboratories all over the country.
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