PM launches High Throughput COVID testing facilities at Kolkata, Mumbai and Noida

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched three high throughput COVID-19 testing facilities via video conferencing today. These facilities are located at the National Institutes of Indian Council of Medical Research, at Kolkata, Mumbai and Noida. Prime Minister said that these hi-tech state-of-the-art testing facilities will boost the testing capacity by almost 10,000 daily tests in each of the three cities. More number of tests will assist early detection and treatment, thereby helping fight the spread of the virus. He added that these labs will not be limited to testing for COVID, but in future, will also be able to test for Hepatitis B and C, HIV, Dengue and several other diseases. India is in a much better position than other countries in the fight against COVID-19 as a result of "right decisions taken at the right time", Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday, asserting that the country has expanded its health infrastructure at a rapid pace. Speaking after virtually launching COVID-19 testing facilities in Noida, Mumbai and Kolkata, Modi said that in the fight against corona virus, India has come to a point where it does not lack in awareness, its scientific data is expanding and resources are also increasing. Due to the "right decisions taken at the right time" in the country, India is in a much better position than other countries in the fight against the pandemic, he said. The deaths due to the corona virus in India are much lower than many big countries, the prime minister said.

India\’s Case Fatality Rate (CFR) continues to improve and is 2.28%

The focused efforts of Centre and State/UT governments on early detection and isolation through aggressive testing and efficient clinical management of hospitalized cases have shown results with continuously falling Case Fatality Rate and improving Recovery Rate. With effective containment strategy, aggressive testing and standardized clinical management protocols based on holistic Standard of Care approach, the Case Fatality Rate has significantly dipped. The Case Fatality Rate is progressively falling and currently, it is 2.28%. India has one of the lowest fatality rates in the world. Continuing the streak of more than 30,000 recoveries per day for the 4th successive day, 31,991 patients were discharged in the last 24 hours. This has taken the total recoveries beyond 9 lakh and the number currently stands at 9, 17,567. The Recovery Rate is 64%. As a result of low mortality and more people recovering, the recovered cases exceed the active cases (4, 85,114) by 4, 32,453 today. Medical attention continues to be provided to all active cases in hospitals and home settings.

Ayushman Bharat- Health & Wellness Centres made their presence felt during the times of COVID

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the resilience of India\’s public health systems particularly in the rural hinterland was reflected through continued operationalization of the Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centers (AB - HWCs) and continued delivery of non-COVID essential health services while also meeting the urgent tasks of prevention and management of COVID-19. An additional 13,657 HWCs were operationalized within the period of the pandemic itself (between January to July 2020) to ensure that an array of healthcare reaches the vast community of citizens they serve. As of 24th July, 2020, a total of 43,022 HWCs are operational across different parts of the country. In the week starting 18th July till the 24th of July, a total of 44.26 lakh people have benefitted from the health and wellness services being provided by the AB-HWCs. The cumulative total footfall among the HWCs since their inception (i.e. 14th April 2018) consequently rose to 1923.93 lakh. 32,000 yoga sessions were conducted in last week in AB-HWCs all across India. 14.24 lakh yoga sessions have been conducted in total by the HWCs since their inception.

India conducts over 5.15 lakh Covid tests in last 24 hours: ICMR

India has recorded highest single-day testing of over 5.15 lakh tests to diagnose Covid-19 in last 24 hours, officials from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said as the country Covid tally on Monday crossed 14 lakh marks. In the past 24 hours, 5, 15,472 samples were tested on 26 July in the country with a total of 1, 68, 06,803 samples have been tested till date, said the official. In an effort to ramp up testing capacity, ICMR has approved a total of 1,310 Covid-19 testing labs in both public (906) and private sector (404). This includes RT-PCR labs (668); TrueNat Labs (536) and CBNAAT Labs (106). "ICMR advises all concerned state governments, public and private institutions to take required steps to scale-up testing for Covid-19. Since testing, tracking and treatment is the only way to prevent the spread of infection and save lives, it is imperative that testing should be made widely available to all symptomatic individuals in every part of the country and contact tracing mechanisms for containment of infection are further strengthened," said latest advisory of ICMR on Covid-19 strategies.

ICMR plans to test 10 lakh samples each day

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is planning to facilitate and exponentially ramp up testing to 10 lakh samples a day, sources in the council said. With that in vision, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to virtually inaugurate three novel corona virus testing laboratories in 3 institutes, National Institute of Research in Reproductive Health (NIRRH) in Mumbai, the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED) in Kolkata and the National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research (NICPR) in Noida. These labs can do high volumes of tests or multiple machines to increase capacity of testing as ICMR plans to test a million (10 lakh) samples a day. The NIRRH Mumbai has installed a COBAS 6800 machine. These imported machines manufactured by a Swiss company can test 1,200 samples a day. Each COBAS 6800 machine costs about Rs 3.7 crore. The laboratory at NICED Kolkata is equipped with a COBAS 8800 machine that can test 3,000 samples a day. Each machine costs about Rs 5.7 crore. The laboratory in Noida has been equipped with 12 RT-PCR machines and 4 RNA extractors. The total daily output is expected to be about 6,000 samples.

WHO Webinar on Collection of COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma

The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected the supply of blood and blood components in many countries through reduction in blood donations and disruption of routine practices in blood establishments. Blood services throughout the world must move quickly in response to the pandemic to maintain blood sufficiency for critical patient needs, ideally through development, implementation and activation of emergency response plans in cooperation with hospitals. Meanwhile, COVID-19 convalescent plasma can be made available on an experimental basis through local production provided that ethical and safety criteria are met for its preparation and use. Blood systems that provide COVID-19 convalescent plasma must ensure that blood establishments have sufficient capability to safely collect, process and store these special products in a quality-assured manner in compliance with WHO and other internationally recognized standards for plasma for transfusion.

 

Prepared by Impact Health Research Team

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