Prabha Raghavan

It is crucial to move beyond RT-PCR tests because they would have “very little value” in the event people with positive antibodies to the virus (meaning they have COVID-19 but their immune system has tackled the virus) are tested, according to her.

While some authorities including Delhi Police, Gurugram Police, Noida Police and Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation instituted mechanisms for allowing home deliveries, many raised concerns over non-adherence of Union Ministry of Home Affairs orders in different states.

Amid the lockdown, disruptions in supply of essential medicines across state borders have left patients like Sanjay in the lurch. The panic buying of certain medicines hasn’t helped either.

Around 22 private laboratories, including Dr Lal PathLabs, Dr Dangs Lab and Indraprastha Apollo have been approved to help government test patients for the virus.

India’s response system is not watertight, leaving the possibility for community transmission cases, according to Dr Gagandeep Kang, executive director of Translational Health Science and Technology Institute, an autonomous body under the Science and Technology Ministry’s Department of Biotechnology.

India depends on China for nearly 70 percent of its import requirements of bulk drugs, but the Covid-19 outbreak in the neighbouring country forced it to speed up efforts to cut this dependence.

Diagnosing COVID-19 for free without such relaxations may not be a viable model for these firms, as they will have to bear logistics, manpower and testing costs on their own, according to some representatives of private labs.

The process was explained to The Indian Express by Dr V Ravi, Senior Professor & Head, Department of Neurovirology, NIMHANS.

How does the PCR test look for the virus in swab samples? How long does it take? How many samples is India testing daily, and can it test more? If it can, why has it not scaled up yet?

Over the last three months, COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, has taken over the lives of the CMO and his staff.

Rules say maintain prescription register with patients’ details but no trace of many bottles from contaminated batch.

Over a month of investigations, first by a team of doctors from PGIMER-Chandigarh and later by drug control regulators, revealed on March 2 that the syrup was, in fact, the culprit.

NPPA on Thursday evening also stated in a tweet that it has asked the Himachal Pradesh drug controller to “take notice” of reported problems faced by pharmaceutical companies in Baddi and “act immediately to ensure uninterrupted availability of APIs.”

China accounts for nearly 70 per cent of India’s total imports of raw drug materials like active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and the key ingredients used to make them (KSMs).

The committee wants the government to prioritise those APIs and KSMs (key starting materials) for which India is heavily dependent on imports when granting these incentives.

The development comes after an earlier exercise by the council to zero in on alternatives that could keep the country from running out of crucial stocks of various painkillers, antibiotics, antidiabetic and cardiovascular medicines as well as vitamins, The Indian Express has learnt.

According to the directorate’s notification, the export of 13 such active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and medicines made from them, have been restricted.

GoI has also decided to suspend with immediate effect all regular visas and e-visas issued to nationals of Italy, Iran, South Korea and Japan issued on or before March 3 and have not entered India yet.

The present stock of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) "may be sufficient" for 2-3 months to make formulations, the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) has said.