Tag: COVID-19/Coronavirus

ADB to rise COVID-19 package to $20 billion

April 15, 2020

• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has boosted the size of its COVID-19 Response Package to $20 Billion.
• The amount in the COVID-19 Response Package was $6.5 billion in starting as per announcement in March 2020 as ADB’s response to the COVID-19.

UP to be the first state to Start Pool Testing of COVID-19

April 15, 2020

• Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has permitted to Uttar Pradesh to start “Pool Testing” of COVID-19 samples in the state.
• With this, Uttar Pradesh will be the first state to start pool testing.

Robots to provide food, medicine to COVID-19 patients in Jharkhand

April 15, 2020

• Robots will provide food and medicine to COVID-19 patients in two hospitals in Jharkhand’s West Singhbhum district, in a step to preventing doctors and health workers from getting infected.
• Started by District Deputy Development Commissioner (DDC) Aditya Ranjan, the remote-controlled COBOT-Robotics will serve food and medicine to patients without human intervention.

Kerala prepares trial plasma therapy for COVID-19 treatment

April 14, 2020

• Kerala to be the 1st state of India to start clinical trial plasma therapy for COVID-19 treatment.
• The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has given approval to Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, to commence clinical trial convalescent plasma therapy treatment.

IIT-Bombay prepares digital stethoscope called “AyuSynk”

April 14, 2020

• IIT-Bombay has prepared a digital stethoscope called “AyuSynk” to check patients who are infected with COVID-19.
• IIT Bombay converts conventional stethoscopes into digital ones.
• The conventional stethoscope may pose a danger of infection to healthcare professionals handling coronavirus patients.

YES Bank extends bancassurance tie-up with Max Life Insurance

April 14, 2020

• YES Bank has declared the extension of its strategic bancassurance tie-up with Max Life Insurance.
• The partnership has been extended for 5-years in order to reaffirm their commitment to invest in building a digitally-enabled ecosystem, to provide customers broad range of need-based products and services in order to give a seamless experience for customers.

Flipkart signs tie-up with ICICI Lombard to offer a health plan for COVID-19

April 11, 2020

• Flipkart Private Limited signs tie-up with ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Limited & Go Digit General Insurance to initiated two health insurance policies.
• The name of the two policies that specifically cover coronavirus is ‘COVID-19 Protection Cover’ and ‘Digit Illness Group Insurance’.

Bharat Biotech pairs up with FluGen to prepare ‘CoroFlu’ vaccine

April 11, 2020

• Bharat Biotech in partnership with the US-based company FluGen and the University of Wisconsin Madison to prepare a vaccine named “Coro-Flu” to combat COVID-19.
• CoroFlu will build on the backbone of FluGen’s flu vaccine candidate called as M2SR.

India stands high on “Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker”

April 11, 2020

• The “Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker” has classified India’s response to COVID-19 as one of the most stringent in the world. This data are based on tracking 73 countries.
• This tracker is designed by researchers from the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford.

Delhi CM declares ‘Operation Shield’ to fight COVID-19

April 10, 2020

• Delhi Government has released the ‘Operation SHIELD’ to check the spread of COVID-19 in the national capital.
• The Operation Shield will be executed in 21 localities identified as containment zones in Delhi.
• In the Operation SHIELD: S is Sealing of area; H is Home quarantine; I is Isolation of infected patients; E is Essential services ensured; L is Local sanitization; D is Door to door survey.