PM reviews progress on COVID vaccine development, interacts with scientists

New Delhi, (the states. news) PM  Narendra Modi reviewed progress on development of COVID vaccines at three research centers in Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Pune and held discussions with scientists there even as India recorded a fresh spike of 41,322 new cases pushing the tally to 93,51,110. The Prime Minister visited the Zydus Biotech Park in Ahmedabad, Bharat Biotech facility at Hyderabad and Serum Institute of India in Pune.

After discussions with the scientists, the Prime Minister expressed satisfaction that India’s indigenous vaccine development had progressed at such a rapid pace so far. He spoke on how India is following sound principles of science in the entire journey of vaccine development while also asking for suggestions to make the vaccine distribution process better.

He stressed that India considers vaccines as not only vital to good health but also as a global good, He said it is India’s duty to assist other countries including neighbouring countries in the collective fight against the virus.

He asked the scientists for their opinion on how India could further improve its regulatory process. The scientists presented an overview of how they are also developing various new and repurposed drugs to better fight COVID-19.

At Zydus Biotech Park he reviewed progress in the development of indigenous DNA-based COVID vaccine by Zydus Cadila.

“Visited the Zydus Biotech Park in Ahmedabad to know more about the indigenous DNA based vaccine being developed by Zydus Cadila. I compliment the team behind this effort for their work. Government of India is actively working with them to support them in this journey,” the Prime Minister tweeted. He later went to Hyderabad and visited the Bharat Biotech facility and later the Serum Institute of India in Pune.‘’At the Bharat Biotech facility in Hyderabad, was briefed about their indigenous COVID-19 vaccine. Congratulated the scientists for their progress in the trials so far. Their team is closely working with ICMR to facilitate speedy progress,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) tweeted. Bharat Biotech and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) are involved in joint research for development of the indigenous COVID vaccine while the Serum Institute at Pune is developing the vaccine jointly with AstraZeneca and the Oxford University.

‘Had a good interaction with the team at Serum Institute of India. They shared details about their progress so far on how they plan to further ramp up vaccine manufacturing. Also took a look at their manufacturing facility,’ the Prime Minister said after a visit to the Serum Institute.

Even as the Prime Minister reviews progress on the development of COVID vaccine, India on Saturday witnessed a fresh spike of 41,322 new COVID cases pushing the country’s tally to 93,51,110, the Union Health Ministry said in its daily update here.Fatality count due to the pandemic so far has surged to 1,36,200 after 485 more lives were claimed during past 24 hours by the highly contagious virus.

Presently, the active caseload of nCoV cases on the country stands at 4,54,940, after witnessing a dip of 615 such cases since Friday. As on recoveries front, there were 41,452 cured cases recorded in the past one day, pushing the total recovered patients’ number till date to 87,59,969 across the nation.

According to the ICMR, 13,82,20,354 COVID tests have been done so far in the country till date. (uni) (media saheb.com)