GOI puts in place several measures to contain Coronavirus in Delhi

Ministry of Home Affairs headed by Amit Shah has announced a slew of measures to contain COVID-19 in the  Union Territory of Delhi amid claim by the NITI Aayog that the dreaded virus is yet to be brought under control in the national capital. However, the  UT’s   Health Minister  Satyendra Jain has gone public ruling out the imposition of lockdown saying the virus has been flattened. As per the decision taken at a high powered meet chaired by HM Amit Shah with  L-G Anil Baijal. Chief Minister  Arvind Kejriwal, Satyendra Jain, Union Health  Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan and concerned officials, multi-disciplinary teams have been constituted to visit all private hospitals in Delhi to check the status of compliance of various directions issued by the Union Health Ministry for testing and treating COVID patients and that by Delhi government to contain the spread of COVID-19. The Ministry said the teams will start their visit immediately and they will submit their reports within two days along with specific details. The teams have been given a list of tasks and have to report to MHA if the private hospitals have wards and ICU beds in accordance with orders issued by the Delhi government and if it has been displayed on the corona dashboard of the Delhi government on a real-time basis. The teams will also be checking any violations. Delhi High Court last week vacated a stay imposed by a single-judge bench on the Delhi government’s order on the reservation of 80 percent ICU beds in 33 private hospitals for COVID-19 patients. Meanwhile,  Bharat Biotech has announced the commencement of Phase III trials of COVAXIN yesterday. The Phase III trials will involve 26,000 volunteers across India, conducted in partnership with ICMR. It is the largest clinical trial conducted for a COVID-19 vaccine in India. This is India’s first phase 3 efficacy study for a COVID-19 vaccine, and the largest phase III efficacy trial ever conducted in India. The trial has been registered at www.ctri.nic.in and approved by the Drugs Controller General of India. Trial volunteers will receive two intramuscular injections approximately 28 days apart. Participants will be randomly assigned to receive COVAXIN or placebo. The trial is double-blinded, such that the investigators, the participants and the company will not be aware of who is assigned to which group. COVAXIN has been evaluated in 1000 subjects in Phase I and Phase II clinical trials, with promising safety and immunogenicity data. Volunteers who wish to participate in this trial should be adults over 18 years of age. COVAXIN, India’s indigenous COVID-19 vaccine by Bharat Biotech is developed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research – National Institute of Virology. This indigenous, inactivated vaccine is developed and manufactured in Bharat Biotech’s BSL-3 bio-containment facility. Pic courtesy: The Deccan Chronicle