The World Health Organisation (WHO) has praised India’s efforts to fight against the pandemic that has killed thousands in more than 100 countries across the globe.
According to Hindustan Times, India, which has reported 125 positive cases of the coronavirus so far has intensified efforts to slow down the spread of the disease so that health workers do not get overwhelmed.
The central government is also reportedly widening travel bans from the EU, the European Free Trade Association, Turkey and the UK from the 18th of March.
People travelling from the UAE, Qatar, Oman ad Kuwait are also being put into compulsory quarantine for a minimum period of 14 days. People from Afghanistan, Philippines, Malaysia were also prohibited to travel to India.
The commitment from the Indian government and the Prime Minister’s Office has been enormous, very impressive. It is one of the reasons why India is still doing quite well. I am very impressed that everyone has been mobilised.
-Henk Bekedam, WHO’s representative to India
Bekedam added:
We have very good research capacity in India and especially at ICMR and department of health research. They have been able to identify the virus. Now India will continue to be part of the research community.
Dr RR Gangakhedkar, head of epidemiology division at ICMR spoke about finding a vaccine and said:
Isolating the virus will mean we could have our own vaccine in future. However, there are several research projects active globally right now that are working on war footing to develop a vaccine against Covid-19, but I would say it will take at least one-and-a-half to two years before a vaccine sees the light of day.
According to reports, 20 vaccines are currently under development by several research groups across the globe.
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