New Delhi: Amid the ongoing trials of indigenous COVID-19 Vaccines, the Centre on Tuesday said that the two Indian vaccines are progressing well in their phase I and II human clinical trials.
"Phase I and II human clinical trials of the two indigenous Covid-19 vaccines are progressing well. It will take a few weeks more to get the result... The third vaccine (Oxford candidate) will start phase III of human clinical trials from tomorrow onwards," said Dr VK Paul, member Niti Aayog.
Paul is also the chairperson of the national expert group on vaccine administration. His statement carries significance amid expectations of a possible Indian Covid-19 vaccine very soon.
Paul, however, cautioned that all trials might not be succeed. "Don't assume all vaccines going for trials will be successful," he said.
Bharat Biotech and Ahmedabad-based Zydus Cadila are working on the two indigenous vaccines while the Serum Institute of India (SII) will start III phase of the human clinical trial of the Oxford vaccine candidate.
He said that it will not be correct give a timeframe for the vaccines.
Paul said that talks with vaccine manufacturers are also going on in the right directions and it is reassuring. "In our discussions we have talked on pricing issue as well as individual capacity. We have also asked the companies how can they ramp up the vaccine manufacturing capacity," he said.
Read: Nearly nine lakh COVID-19 tests done in last 24 hours, highest so far: Health Ministry
He added that there could be further decrease in the price of Covid-19 tests as more and more testing kits are arriving.
In last 10 days, the national expert group on vaccine administration had two rounds of discussion with vaccine manufacturers on all issues regarding vaccine manufacture, procurement, demand and distribution.
Paul was addressing a press conference along with Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhusan on India's Covid status.
The Covid-19 pandemic has also given a chance to rebuild India's healthcare sector as the country has already started exporting domestically made PPEs and ventilators to the other countries. In July, India exported 23 lakh PPEs to countries like UK, USA, UAE, Senegal and Slovania.
"More 1,50,700 PPEs will be exported to Slovenia and USA," said Rajesh Bhusan. He said that director general of foreign trade (DGFT) has also issued a notification on August 4 regarding export of ventilators to a few countries.
Read: Indian and US scientists to pursue COVID-19 research
Referring to India's position over Covid situation, Bhusan said that the country is in a better position. "In last six days Covid positivity as well as fatality number has decreased. From 64,000 on August 13, the positivity rate came down to 55,000 on August 17 whereas absolute death due to Covid came down to 876 from 1007 during the same period," said Bhushan.
He mentioned that several states are using recovered COVID patients as volunteers in the fight against the pandemic. "In Uttar Pradesh they are known as Covid vijeta, in West Bengal they are known as Covid warrior and in Odisha they are known as Covid bandhu. They mainly create awareness about the pandemic, and also assist the health care workers," informed Bhushan.
Referring to a question whether India has witnessed the peak of Covid-19 infections, Bhushan said that it cannot be predicted as "we don't believe in mathematical modelling."
"Such predictions are based on mathematical modelling with the help of previous data. In this case, such modelling lacks behaviour of the citizen among others," he said.
Read: West Bengal man defeats coronavirus after 45 days on ventilation
He said that India has increased Covid-19 testing and at the same time the active number of Covid cases is also decreasing. "The positivity rate has remained low at 8.81 per cent compared to the weekly national average of 8.84 percent," Bhushan said.
"It's test, track and treat. However, testing as of now is going on demand," said Bhushan. He said that the government may consider in its testing protocol to start mass Covid testing. As of now symptomatic and SARI and ILI people come under the testing protocol.
However, Paul said that reports are also coming in about cases where recovered Covid patients have once again contracted the disease.
"Post Covid infection is a new symptom. We are closely monitoring it. It can damage lungs, so we have to be alert. We will use the treatment modalities according to the need," said Dr Paul.
Meanwhile, as per health ministry records, India conducted 8,99,864 Covid tests in last 24 hours which takes the total test number to more than 3 crore.
The number of recovered patients now stands at 19.70 lakh which is 2.93 times of active cases. India as on Tuesday has a total 6,73,166 active Covid cases.
Read: HCQ Ineffective As a Preventive Antiviral Against COVID-19
Health Secretary Bhushan said that active cases are 25 per cent of the total cases. "On an average more than 55,000 people are recovering daily where as the fatality rate is below 2 per cent," said Bhushan. He said that India's Covid-19 recovery rate stands at 73 per cent.
Interestingly, 30 states and UTs in India including Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Kerala, Bihar among others have registered lower fatality rate than the national average of 1.92 per cent.
