ICMR to monitor 75 districts to check for community transmission

Districts with high population and heavy inter-state movement of people will be selected for the study to represent the respective state, sources said.

গঙ্গাজলের বিশেষ ইমিউনিটি পাওয়ার রয়েছে। এমনই মনে করেন অনেকে। কেউ আবার বলছেন, গঙ্গাজলে নিনজা ভাইরাস রয়েছে যা অন্য প্রাণঘাতী ভাইরাস মারতে সাহায্য করে। 

আর সেই কিটের মাধ্যমে মাত্র ৫০০টাকাতেই করা যাবে করোনা পরীক্ষা। ইতিমধ্যে তাতে স্বীকৃতিও দিয়ে দিয়েছে ICMR।

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) under the Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India has now collaborated with IBM to implement Watson virtual agent or Watson assistant to respond to queries of the frontline

The Indian Council of Medical Research on Tuesday advised states not to use the new rapid antibody test for Covid-19 from China till further notice after reports emerged that the kits are faulty. “The kits will be tested and validated in the field by our teams.

The ICMR has asked research institutions including hospitals to participate in the funding round and it expects research activities to take off by June.

The Indian Council of Medical Research has started analysing results from the evaluation of antibody test kits imported from China and will come out with its conclusions on their efficacy early next week, a senior government official told ET.

Until last month, polyester swabs were not manufactured in India and were imported from the US or China. With global demand for this product going up, it became difficult and more expensive to buy these swabs from either country.

Priced around Rs 500, the device has demonstrated a near-100 per cent accuracy in detecting the virus in a short span of 90 minutes, the statement said quoting an ICMR report.

The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), an arm of the Jal Shakti Ministry that deal with the rejuvenation programme for the river, had received a number of proposals, including from people and NGOs working on Ganga, to undertake clinical studies for treatment of coronavirus patients with the water, officials said.

"Indian Council of Medical Research has set a target of carrying out around 1 lakh tests across the country per day. For this crucial work, India Post with its vast network of 1,56,000 post offices has once again turned into a COVID warrior," the statement said.

Community transmission is said to happen when a person who has not been in contact with an infected person or travelled to a country where the virus is active tests positive.

The trials will be conducted in 21 hospitals across Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, TN, Madhya Pradesh, UP, Punjab, Karnataka, Telangana and Chandigarh.

Private labs, which had termed the Rs 4,500 cap as being on the ‘moderate side’, objected to the order as there was no clarity regarding reimbursement for the free tests.

Officials said the study would have started earlier as it was planned to be conducted with the rapid antibody test kits brought from China.