COVID-19: India did not have huge peak at all, says ICMR DG

Lauding the nationwide lockdown ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava on Tuesday said that the country distributed the Covid19 curve in such a way that it did not have many deaths and did not witness a huge peakThe comments came against the backdrop of All India Institute of Medical Sciences Director Dr Randeep Gulerias statement that India is witnessing a second wave of coronavirus in some areasLauding the nationwide lockdown ICMR ICMRDELHI DirectorGeneral BalramBhargava ProfBhargava on Tuesday said that the country distributed the Covid19 curve in such a way that it did not have many deaths and did not witness a huge peakCoronavirusOutbreak pictwittercom9NoMEqY4ofmdash IANS Tweets ians_india September 15 2020During the peak in Europe and the US there were huge numbers of mortalities We took learning from that and were able to distribute the curve in such a way that we did not have those deaths This was attributed to the lockdown We were able to distribute the curve and did not have a huge peak at all said Bhargava at a press conference on being asked about the second waveIndia on Tuesday reported a spike of 83000 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours taking the countrys total case tally past 49 lakh The countrys overall Covid tally stands at 4930237 and 990061 of them are active casesAs far as the vaccine is concerned indigenous vaccines Cadila and Bharat Biotech have completed Phase1 and Serum Institute of Indias wants to start the Phase3 trial which will commence after the clearance is given by the DCGI the ICMR chief saidUnion Health Ministry Secretary Rajesh Bhushan who was also at the press conference said no one has presently applied for the emergency authorisation of the vaccineEmergency authorisation is not only for vaccines but for drugs with an existing provision in the Drugs and Cosmetic Act for this It is an accelerated process which permits the regulator to grant permission which is distinct from regular marketing authorisationOne example is the US FDA giving emergency authorisation to Remdesivir Similarly emergency authorisation to Remdesivir was given by the India regulator tooAbout the Sputnik vaccine Bhushan said Russia has a good history of vaccine manufacturing and hence we assume that this vaccine is also good There is a dialogue going on between the highlevel committee of the governments of India and Russia We are trying to work out its mechanismSputnik V an adenovirus vectorbased vaccine was developed by the Gamaleya Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology along with the Russian Direct Investment Fund and was registered on August 11Earlier NITI Aayog member Dr VK Paul had said that the Russian government has sought Indias help in manufacturing the Sputnik V vaccine and also to conduct Phase3 trials or bridging studies in the countryKeep scrolling to read more newsCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest newsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever