Does India have enough kits to test coronavirus?
Specimens of coronavirus patients in India will be screened in the laboratories of the Indian Council of Medical Research at Alappuzha, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai besides the National Institute of Virology at Pune.
The four ICMR labs will work under the guidance of NIV. However, at the moment there is no information about how many kits are available in these labs for diagnosis and how many workers they are.
In an email to Down to Earth, ICMR-NIV's new director Priya Abraham stated that the test for coronavirus involves a test based on the expansion of nucleic acids, called polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Another subtle type of this is called real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).
In response to how many kits are available with NIV and Network Labs, Abraham stated that ICMR-NIV and Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratory have adequate kits. Although he did not state the number. He also stated that the protocols being followed in the NIV are all based on the guidelines suggested by the World Health Organization on Novel Coronavirus.
Asked how long it would take for the results of the test, Abraham said that how short the test would take depends on which protocol we are following. Normally we run on an average of 12 to 24 hours, because sometimes more than one test has to be done.
Down to Earth also spoke to officials in states and hospitals who have sent their samples to the NIV. Officials at Bihar's Health Department and Delhi's Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital said they have been asked to wait for three days.
Only Maharashtra's state epidemiologist Pradeep Awate said that he would get results in a single day. The department has sent 10 samples and four of them are awaiting results.
According to Abraham, as of January 28, 22 samples have been investigated and approximately four to six samples are coming in daily.
Asked how the NIV would counter it if the sample count went up, he said that other laboratories of the ICMR network would have to be brought together and operated and sufficient manpower and capacity would have to be increased to continue working non-stop.
He also warned people not to fall into the trap of private labs due to the fear of spreading coronavirus. He said that due to the biosafety and biosensitivity aspects of the virus, its testing has been confined to large national laboratories such as ICMR-NIV, where the infrastructure required for its testing is in place.
Global scenario
On 29 January, India screened Chinese tourists at 21 airports. The Indian government also upgraded its tourism guidelines and urged people to postpone their non-essential travel to any part of China. Earlier, the government had advised people to avoid going to Wuhan, the central city of Outbreak and contacting the infected people during travel in other cities of China.
Incidentally, the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has raised the alert level to the highest on January 28. This alert states that non-essential travel to all regions of China should be stopped for the time being. The US has so far confirmed five positive cases.
Meanwhile, the operation to expel Indian citizens from China was announced three days ago, but it has not been started yet. A top Health Ministry official said that we had suggested this campaign. Now the Ministry of External Affairs will have to take a decision on this. According to the last update of Foreign Ministry spokesman Ravish Kumar, the ministry is negotiating with the Chinese authority.
The US has so far evacuated 201 of its citizens. The CDC has issued a statement that these people will be examined before the flight, a physician will monitor them during the journey, they will also be examined at the time of landing to fill fuel in the plane in Alaska. After this, his status will be reviewed again after his arrival in California.
Coronavirus cases have been reported in 20 countries around the world. At 4 pm on January 30, the number of confirmed cases was 7783, while the death toll has reached 170.
Treatment in ayurveda
The Indian Ministry of Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH) has issued a press release on January 29 stating that many Sunni drugs can be effective in treating symptoms of coronavirus infection. In this release, some Ayurvedic medicines have also been suggested to prevent infection of this virus.
On January 29, a six-metric ton shipment of Respiratory Mask and Protective Suit arrived in Shanghai from UNICEF for health workers.
UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fauré said, 'Coronavirus is spreading very fast and it is very important that we put all our resources to stop it. We do not know very much about how this virus is affecting children, but we know that the solution is to monitor and prevent it. We do not have much time. '
