Science & Technology

India has come at number three in the world in terms of corona infection. The only ray of hope among growing cases of infection is the formation of its vaccine. But the biggest question is when will the corona vaccine be made and when will it reach people?

First came a circular of the Indian Council of Medical Research, i.e. ICMR, on 2 July, stating that by 15 August, India would produce a vaccine called Biotech Covaxin.

The ICMR subsequently issued an explanation on this circular. The clarification stated that the circular was issued only because government files continued to move faster in the process.

But the matter did not end here. Now, an article of the Institute of Science Dissemination under the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Central Government has stirred again.

This article has been written by Dr. T.V. Venkateswaran, Head of Science Communication Training Department of Vigyan Prasar for the Information Bureau (PIB).

According to media reports, it was mentioned in the article that the corona vaccine cannot come before 2021. But in many media reports, it has been claimed that the 2021 line was removed from the website of PIB immediately and uploaded the article again.

In such a situation, questions are arising that why the government is looking in a hurry regarding the corona vaccine? And can the process of making a vaccine be announced properly beforehand?

According to media reports, the Science Dissemination article stated that 11 of the 140 vaccine companies worldwide, along with India's Covaxin and Zykov-D, are in the human trials phase, but in getting licenses for its use It will take 15 to 18 months.

Before this, none of these vaccines is likely to be ready for mass use.

However, later this article removed the line 'It will take 15 to 18 months to get a license for its use'.

Now this article states that the approval of the Controller General of India for the Covid-19 for testing Indian vaccines, Covaxin and Zykov-D on humans is the 'beginning of the end' of the Corona virus epidemic.

This article still exists on the website of the Information Bureau (PIB). It has also been claimed in the article that wherever Corona vaccine is made in the world, it is not possible to get it in the whole world without its production in India.

The article published on the PIB website no longer mentions the time limit for the vaccine.

On this whole controversy, BBC correspondent Saroj Singh contacted Doctor TV Venkateswara over phone.

He refused to comment on the entire controversy. In a phone conversation with the BBC, he said, "These are all policy issues." It will be better if only the right people comment on it. As far as I'm concerned. I am with the revised version published on PIB.

Dr. Randeep Guleria, director of AIIMS in Delhi, has also made it clear in an interview with a private news channel that the talk of indigenous vaccine trials by August 15 seems impractical.

He made it clear in the interview that the objective of the ICMR letter was that every institution should move towards doing their work faster.

AIIMS in Delhi is also going to have a trial of this indigenous vaccine made by Bharat Biotech.

On the other hand, Biocon India chairperson Kiran Mazumdar Shaw also wrote on Twitter, "It is impossible to complete Phase 1 to 3 trials for the Kovid-19 vaccine in 6 months."

BBC Telugu correspondent Deepti Bathini spoke to Suchitra Alla, managing director of Bharat Biotech, hours before ICMR's letter.

Suchitra Alla said, "One thousand people will be selected in the first phase of the human clinical trial." All international guidelines will be followed for this. The election of volunteers will also be closely monitored. Those from all over the country will be selected for trials which are Covid-free. It will take at least 30 days to know what the reaction was on those people.

He added, "We do not know whether the geographical conditions will also have an impact." That is why we have chosen people from all over India. We want to make sure that it has a good response. It will take 45 to 60 days to submit the data for the first phase.

After taking blood samples, the test cycle cannot be reduced. Test results will take 15 days to reach us.

In India, all efforts are being made to prepare the Covid-19 vaccine. But still a lot needs to be done in this direction.

After the vaccine is ready, the first task will be to find out how safe it is. If it were to cause more problems than the disease, then the vaccine would not be of any benefit.

In clinical trials, it will be seen whether the vaccine is able to develop resistance against Covid-19 so that people do not get caught after taking the vaccine.

Even after the vaccine is ready, billions of doses will need to be prepared. The vaccine will also need approval from drug regulatory agencies.

Even if all this happens, the big challenge will remain. Arrangements will also have to be made for logistic arrangements to deliver its food to billions of people around the world.

After allowing the human clinical trial of the indigenous vaccine Covaxin and ZyCov-D for the corona virus in India, the government said it was 'the beginning of the end of the corona'.

The Union Ministry of Science and Technology in India has said in its letter that more than 100 vaccines are being tested all over the world and only 11 of them are undergoing human trials.

"The human trials of the vaccine will begin after getting permission from the Drug Controller General of India, which is the beginning of an end," the ministry letter said.

Six Indian companies are working on the Kovid-19 vaccine. Out of 140 vaccines across the world, 11 are undergoing human trials including two Indian vaccines Covaxin and ZyCov-D.

Usually the first two stages of a drug test are about safety while the third phase is about the effect of the drug.

Each phase can take months to years to complete.

The letter from the ministry came at a time when there was a dispute over deciding the last date of release of the ICMR vaccine to 15 August.

However, ICMR has now made it clear that the vaccine will come on the market only on the basis of global regulations.

Among the two indigenous vaccines that have been allowed to undergo human trials in India are Covaxin of Bharat Biotech and ZyCov-D of Zaedus Cadila.

Permission for first and second phase testing was received this week.

Plasma bank has recently been started in Delhi to deal with the corona epidemic. Plasma therapy was approved for treatment of corona virus patients. Now it is also being used in the treatment of patients with critical condition.

It is the first plasma bank in India to treat corona. It is built in the Bank Institute of Liver and Biliary Science (ILBC) Hospital. The plasma bank is expected to make it easier for patients to get plasma.

In such a situation, appeals are being made to donate the plasma to cured patients of Covid-19. However, not every corona virus patient can donate plasma. Some conditions have been laid for this.

It has been reported that she has become a mother anytime in her life and currently pregnant women cannot donate plasma.

ILBS director AK Sarin told in an interview to Hindustan Times, an English newspaper, that plasma cannot be taken from pregnant women and pregnant women. Their plasma can do more harm to the Covid-19 patient.

The World Health Organization said Saturday that hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir / ritonavir are being discontinued on corona-infected patients.

The hydroxychloroquine used to treat malaria and the lopinavir / ritonavir drug given to HIV patients did not succeed in preventing mortality of corona infectives, after which the decision has been taken.

The drug was seen as an expectation in different vaccine and medicine trials in search of treatment for corona and this bad news has come at a time when the World Health Organization itself has reported that for the first time worldwide More than two lakh corona infection cases have been reported in a single day.

On Friday, there were 212,326 reported cases of corona infection worldwide, with 53,213 cases reported in the US alone.

The World Health Organization said in a statement, "The results from the medical trial showed that the use of hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir / ritonavir reduced the mortality rate of hospitalized corona patients by little or no. Therefore, trial of these drugs will be stopped with immediate effect.

In different countries of the world, the effect of these drugs on corona patients under the leadership of the World Health Organization was being investigated.

The United Nations Health Agency said that the decision has been taken based on the recommendation of an international committee.

However, the WHO has clarified that patients who are not hospitalized and who use them as a preventive treatment will not be affected by this decision.

China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said on Saturday that the G4 swine flu virus is not new and does not easily infect humans and animals.

This week, a study was published about this G4 swine flu virus, which has been rejected by the Chinese government.

However, an earlier study about the G4 swine flu virus was prepared by a team of Chinese scientists and published by the American Science Journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In this study, it was warned that this new swine flu virus named G4 is contagious to humans and there is a danger of it turning into a pandemic virus.

However, the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture has said in its statement that this study was presented in the media in a non-factual way.

According to the analysis of the Ministry of Agriculture, the scale of the samples collected to publish the study paper was very small, as well as the article lacked sufficient evidence to show that the G4 virus is affecting pigs.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has now issued a clarification on the matter related to fixing the last date for the Corona virus vaccine to be made by August 15 in India. The ICMR has said that the fast track vaccine will be made only under globally accepted regulations.

ICMR has tweeted its two-page statement that the safety and interest of the people of India is a top priority.

Actually the debate on the date of August 15 started after a memo written by ICMR Director General Dr. Balram Bhargava this week. In this, he had asked India's top clinical research agencies to launch the corona virus vaccine by Independence Day.

Now ICMR has issued a clarification on the statement of the Director General, saying, "The DG-ICMR letter was meant to avoid unnecessary red-tapism from researchers doing clinical trials so that necessary procedures are not missed and new participants can be recruited.''

Also, the red-tapism was not a hindrance in fast track permission to market new indigenous testing kits or Covid-19 related medicines. In the process of developing indigenous vaccine, it was also asked to avoid slow pace so that this phase can be completed soon and a population-based trial can be started.''

The ICMR has stated that the process of developing a fast track vaccine is being carried out under globally accepted regulations.

The ICMR states that the vaccine can be tested simultaneously on animals and humans.

Also, the trial of the vaccine will be conducted with hardly any difficulty and the Data Safety Monitoring Board can review it if required.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has hoped that the Corona vaccine being made in India should be launched by 15 August. ICMR said this by writing a letter to the institutions associated with the trial of this vaccine.

The indigenous vaccine is co-produced by ICMR and Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech Company.

ICMR says that once the clinical trial is complete, this vaccine can be launched for the common people on 15 August, ie, the day of India's independence.

12 institutes in India have been selected for clinical trials. ICMR director Dr Balaram Bhargava wrote a letter to these 12 institutes on 2 July and said that they should take the clinical trials by 7 July.

In his letter, Dr. Bhargava wrote, "An agreement has been reached with the Bharat Biotech company for the fast-track trial of the vaccine created through ICMR to prevent corona. This vaccine has been created by extracting a strain from the coronavirus.

"After clinical trials, ICMR wants to provide this vaccine to the people by August 15. Bharat Biotech is also working on a war footing. But the success of this vaccine depends on the cooperation of the institutes that have been selected for clinical trial.''

Today technology has made human life very easy. These technological devices have proved to be even more effective in this period of worldwide lockdown.

Today, in the developed countries of the world, many people have smart devices in their homes that work at our behest.

From Alexa to Siri and Google Home, smart light bulbs, security cameras, and home temperature thermostats are examples of this.

These are called the Internet of Things (IoT) in the language of technology. Even the appliances that we use in our kitchen have many types of sensors.

But in developing countries and backward countries of the world, such a smart device can only be imagined. Some people in these countries have such smart devices. In fact, such smart devices are more prevalent in developed countries.

It is being said that they are likely to be used more in the next ten years. But many people are frightened by the increasing use of these devices.

They call them spies. Apps, or devices that run from the Internet, run as we ordered. Whatever commands we give them are stored in them.

This information can be used in any form.

A research also says that the use of smart devices is promoting domestic violence and causing bitterness in relationships.

In particular, the use of smartphones is the most dangerous. This completely kills the privacy of any human being.

There are many such apps for smartphones, from which any person can be spied without his knowledge.

Many parents use them to keep an eye on their children. The cameras installed in our houses also keep an eye on the outsiders as well as the housemates.

Who came to the house, went to which room, how long has been there, you know everything even when you are away from home.

Even when you get out of the house, when you come inside the house, this information is also present in your camera, which can be used in any form.

If there are Internet-operated locks in the house, one can be locked in the house even when away from home.

The makers of smart devices may not have thought that they can be used to control and monitor each other's life.

But this is happening. We have seen an example of this in one case.

In Britain, a man named Ross Cairns spied his wife with a temperature-controlled microphone tablet in the house, which he was sentenced to 11 months in prison.

Many more such cases have also come up. Experts say that calling each other ill and assaulting them are old ways of bringing bitterness in relationships.

But the kind of crimes that are happening through smart devices are more dangerous.

When the control of all smart devices is in the hands of one person in the same house, the control is taken away from the other people living there.

He can use it as he wants.

The monitoring done by the device gradually leads to the chase. The altercation starts in the house.

To what extent will this dispute reach, it is difficult to say.

Around a third of women worldwide have experienced some form of physical or sexual abuse from their partner.

Such activities increase the risk of depression, miscarriage, low birth weight and HIV in children.

In some cases, the process of snooping goes on killing and stops. Stealing someone secretly is mental disturbing.

38 percent of women worldwide are murdered by their current or old partner.

Experts say that at the international level, domestic violence is more than we can imagine. It is like a virus that spreads from one another.

A 2017 study shows that children who see violence against women in their homes grow up do the same.

Domestic violence cases have increased a lot even during this time of lockdown.

Experts have also expressed concern that if the lockdown is extended for the next 6 months, there will be a terrible jump in domestic violence cases.

Many people do not even know how technology can be exploited.

For example, the room in which you are sleeping, suddenly raise the temperature there. Internet connected lock should lock you in the room.

Or let the bell door bell sound at midnight. The code of the door leading into the house should be changed without telling you.

All these actions are mind-boggling to you and come under the purview of domestic violence. But often women do not understand this closeness.

The cyber security expert says that 35 percent has been gained in the device that allows the exposure of your partner's message, the app that tracks the phone's location, or the device's camera to enter.

Interestingly, the one who is spied does not even know. And the app is put in his phone.

This is a gross violation of the right to privacy of someone and a great crime. But it is a pity that there are very few helplines to control such people.

In Britain, there is a helpline called Refugee, which monitors such people. But it has been observed that such helplines are also not very helpful.

She first advises the victim to change the password or device. And when this happens, the situation worsens further.

Even after ending the relationship with such spying partner, he does not get chased.

Actually people who do this type of espionage are a kind of patient. If a person suspects his partner, he can go to any extent.

Such people seek their happiness in the suffering of the front. Even after being away from his partner, he continues to harass him.

However, to control such people, there is talk of a change in the law. A number of organizations are also being formed to bring those who do such actions to their end.

Technology is to make our life easier. It should be used in the same way, not by making it a weapon, and to wring our own relationships.

Relationships are built on the foundation of trust. If you have to spy on your own partner then where is the trust?

If not trust, how is the relationship? It is better to be imprisoned in any bad relationship than it should be.

Claims to treat the corona virus infection with a malarial drug called hydroxychloroquine have suffered a major setback when its use was banned for treatment of covid patients in France.

The French government has said that two advisory institutions have found that this drug can have serious health effects, after which doctors have been banned from taking this medicine there as a precaution.

But it is being used in many countries and research is being done in many countries.

In the US, the government has approved the use of this medicine in emergency situations to patients in hospitals. But he has warned that this medicine should not be used outside hospitals or apart from research, as it may endanger the heart. However, US President Trump has been openly supporting this drug and said that he himself has been taking this medicine as a precaution.

The restrictions on this drug have also been relaxed in Brazil and patients from simple cases to critically ill have been allowed to give this medicine. Brazilian President Jer Bolsonaro is in favor of using this drug.

The Government of India has now decided to extend the scope of its use to health workers as a precautionary medicine.

But now it has not been said in any research that this drug is a treatment for corona infection. The World Health Organization temporarily halted the testing of this drug for safety reasons this week.

But studies are taking place elsewhere, such as Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis testing in the United States. A similar research is being conducted at the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit in Thailand with the support of Oxford University.

The African country Nigeria has said that it will press for clinical trials of chloroquine, another drug linked to this drug.

This is the first time in the last four decades that India's carbon emissions have come down.

Is it because of the lockdown imposed to prevent the spread of corona virus?

According to the report of the environmental website Carbon Brief, fuel demand was reduced due to reduced power consumption and increased use of renewable energy even before the lockdown was implemented in India.

Then the lockdown implemented in March reversed the trend of increasing carbon emissions in India for the first time in the last thirty-seven years.

According to research, India's carbon emissions have come down by 15 percent in March and it is expected to come down by 30 percent in April (figures are yet to come). That is, there has been a 45 percent reduction in carbon emissions in two months.

The coal-based generators have been affected by whatever shortage of power demand. And this is probably also the reason for reduced carbon emissions.

Coal power generation declined 15 percent in March and 31 percent in the first three weeks of April.

But before the lockdown, the demand for coal started decreasing.

According to research, in the fiscal year ending in March 2020, coal sales were down by two percent.

Although this figure is low but when it is seen in comparison to the past years, it seems quite large.

In the last decade, every year coal production of electricity has registered an increase of 7.5 percent per year.

There is a similar reduction in oil consumption in India.

From the beginning of the year 2019, its fuel consumption speed started slowing down.

And in this also, the effect of the lockdown implemented due to Kovid-19 is clear.

Oil consumption in March declined by 18 percent over the previous year.

Meanwhile the power supply from renewable energy sources has increased and remained stable during lockdown.

However, despite the reduction in demand due to lockdown, the trend of production of renewable energy sources is not limited to India.

According to data published by the International Energy Agency (IEA) in late April, worldwide coal consumption has decreased by 8 percent.

At the same time, demand for solar and wind energy has increased worldwide.

One reason for the impact of the reduction in the demand for electricity is due to the power generation due to coal, because daily coal production is expensive.

At the same time, once the solar panel or wind turbine is installed, the cost of operating it is low, and this is why they are preferred in the electricity grid.

At the same time, fuel is to be purchased for thermal power plants operated from oil, gas or coal.

However, experts also say that there will not always be a reduction in fossil fuel consumption.

Experts say that once the lockdown is lifted, countries will try to revive their economies and thermal power consumption will increase and carbon emissions will also increase.

America has started loosening environmental regulations and the fear is that other countries of the world can do the same.

However, carbon brief analysts believe that India might not do this and there are reasons.

The corona virus epidemic has again underscored the long-standing crisis in India's coal sector.

And the Government of India is preparing a package of 90 thousand crores.

But the Indian government is also considering helping the renewable energy sector.

In India, renewable energy is much cheaper than coal.

The report claimed that solar energy costs Rs 2.55 per kWh per hour, while coal produced electricity costs an average of Rs 3.38 per kWh.

Investment in clean energy is also favorable for India's National Clean Air Program. This program was started in the year 2019.

Environmentalists also believe that the clear air and sky watching the lockdown will put pressure on the Indian government to reduce air pollution and invest in clean energy.

China is using its elaborate surveillance system in the war against Corona.

He is not only constantly tracking people through technology, but through this he is also preventing the spread of corona virus.

According to official data, there has been a significant decline in recent cases of corona infection in China. Where there used to be a thousand cases of infection daily here five weeks ago, now the new cases here are almost equal to zero.

Like China, many other countries are using or planning to use surveillance systems to prevent corona from spreading. They are monitoring the person by tracking GPS. But is this an effective method?

And is it helping to prevent the corona epidemic?