Founder-Director Serum Institute of India tells Business Standard that India’s social containment of the epidemic so far has been good
Serum Institute of India recently partnered Codagenix, a US-based biotech drug research company, to develop a coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine. Its Founder-Director Zavaray Poonawalla tells Business Standard that India’s social containment of the epidemic so far has been good. Edited Excerpts: How is India doing as far as managing the whole social community distancing factor goes, with the advent of the COVID-19? Are our numbers of confirmed cases being under-reported?
I think we are taking it very seriously and perhaps that’s a good thing in a country with the size of our population. In practical terms, people are avoiding crowds, flights have been halted and large events delayed. We have as a country in other spheres shut down activities like cricket, racing and other sporting and business events, and I think we can’t do very much more than that. The numbers we are seeing seem to indicate we are doing better than the rest and while I can’t say if they are being under-reported, I do know that our health care infrastructure is not large enough, which is why over-awareness is a good thing.
How bad is this epidemic so far as India is concerned?
It’s a virus with a big scary name but we have had viruses earlier. Now, a new one has emerged. So it’s getting to be seen as the bad one until it is understood better, and we are indeed doing so day by day. If you recall the swine flu pandemic that emerged in 2009, it was equally terrifying because it was the exact opposite, which is very few young people were immune to it, and it spread from country to country, much faster than the present one. Today, swine flu is more of a seasonal type of flu and can be vaccinated against with part of your annual flu shots.
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