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COVID-19: HUL donates over 74,000 RT-PCR testing kits

HUL Chairman and Managing Director Sanjiv Mehta said, "Sufficient supply of testing kits and other medical equipment will help frontline warriors competently tackle the COVID-19 virus."

June 02, 2020 / 08:54 PM IST
 
 
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FMCG major Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) on Tuesday said it has donated 74,328 RT-PCR COVID-19 testing kits worth Rs 13 crore to help ramp up testing of patients in the country.

While Maharashtra has received about 28,800 RT-PCR testing kits, Indian Council of Medical Research has got 20,160 kits. Metropolis Labs has received 8,088 kits and Apollo Hospitals has got 17,280 kits, the company said in a statement.

HUL Chairman and Managing Director Sanjiv Mehta said, "Sufficient supply of testing kits and other medical equipment will help frontline warriors competently tackle the COVID-19 virus."

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"This will not only allow for free testing in critical regions, but also accelerate the process of testing asymptomatic patients, supplementing government efforts to flatten the curve and arrest the spread of the pandemic in the country," he added.

COVID-19 Vaccine

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How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

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There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

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Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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The RT-PCR testing kits consist of nucleic acid diagnostic kit, sample release reagent, throat swab, PCR tube and sample storage reagent, the company said.

These have been approved by international certification bodies such as CE IVD, USFDA and EU CE, and are also listed in FIND, a World Health Organization (WHO) Collaboration Centre, it added.

HUL said its contribution comes on the back of 29 ventilators worth Rs 3 crore that it is donating to government hospitals in Maharashtra.

Last month, HUL also donated 5,000 sets of PPEs, 20,000 N95 masks, 2,00,000 gloves, 112 pulse oximeter and 28 oxygen concentrators worth Rs 2 crore to the Maharashtra Public Health Department.

Beside states like Maharashtra and New Delhi, which have a high COVID-19 patient count, HUL is also extending product donation and other support across India around its manufacturing locations and offices in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

HUL had recently committed Rs 100 crore towards helping India fight the coronavirus pandemic, undertaking various initiatives to ensure safety of people and communities, product sourcing, and business continuity.

Follow our full coverage of the coronavirus pandemic here.

PTI
first published: Jun 2, 2020 08:47 pm

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