AWARE and AWAKE

  The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has issued an advisory for the use of indigenously developed Feluda paper strip test, which is based on CRISPR-Cas9 technology for diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2, by laboratories. The paper-strip uses cutting-edge CRISPR gene-editing technology to identify and target the genetic material of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 in less than an hour. As claimed by the manufacturer, no further RT-PCR based confirmation is required for samples that are confirmed as positive or negative by the CRISPR SARS-CoV-2 test, the advisory issued on Thursday stated. The test has been developed by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research's (CSIRs) Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), Delhi, and has been validated by the National Centre for Biological Sciences and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. The test has been approved by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for use in the country. "The test works b...

  Re-infection possible if antibodies in recovered person reduce within 5 months, says ICMR Chief That is why it is important to wear mask and take precautions even if one was infected earlier, says ICMR

The Centre is considering to remove convalescent plasma therapy from the national clinical management protocol for COVID-19, a top ICMR official said on Tuesday. Presently, the use of off-label convalescent plasma for treating COVID-19 patients in the moderate stage of the illness is allowed under "investigational therapies". However, a randomised controlled trial, led by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), on 464 patients in 39 hospitals in 25 districts across 14 states and  UTs has shown that plasma therapy does not reduce mortality or prevent progression of COVID-19 from moderate to severe. At a press conference, ICR Director General Balaram Bhargava said, "We have had discussions in the national taskforce and we are in discussion with the joint monitoring group that this (convalescent plasma therapy) may be deleted from the national guidelines. The discussion is ongoing and more or less we are reaching towards that."