Health Minister interacts with social media users Fifth Episode of Sunday Samvaad
Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Dr. Harsha Vardhan responded to questions when he interacted with social media users on the 5th episodes of Sunday Samvaad. In today’s episode Health Minister gave detailed information on the role of Ayurveda in the fight against COVID, ICMR’s upcoming study on cases of reinfection, the selection criteria for vaccination and other critical information regarding the much touted COVID Vaccine.
Also, Dr. Harsh Vardhan requested people to celebrate upcoming festivals at home, with their loved ones, instead of going out to fairs and pandals. Reminding people that fighting against COVID is the foremost Dharma, he explained that his Dharma as the Health Minister of the country is to mitigate the virus and prevent deaths at any cost. “The Bhagwad Gita condones war for the warrior class.
Also, Union Minister shared the possibility of increased novel coronavirus transmission during winters as it is a respiratory virus and the transmission of respiratory viruses is known to increase during the colder weather. “These viruses are known to thrive better in the cold weather and low humidity conditions. In view of these, it would not be wrong to assume that the winter season may see increased rates of transmission of the novel coronavirus in the Indian context too,” he noted.
Also, Union Minister shared the good news of the rollout of the FELUDA Test in the near future. Based on tests in over 2000 patients during the trials at the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) and on testing in private labs, the test showed 96% sensitivity and 98% specificity. This compares favourably to ICMR’s current acceptation criteria of RT-PCR Kit of at least 95% Sensitivity and at least 99% Specificity, he stated.
