COVID-19 War Room to come up in Delhi to keep eye on city's fight against coronavirus

The 'COVID-19 War Room', which is being set up at the Delhi Secretariat, will be manned by around 25 experts.

PTI

July 05, 2020 / 04:25 PM IST

File image: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal

The Delhi government will set up a 'COVID-19 War Room', which will 24x7 monitor the city's fight against the novel coronavirus, and suggest measures to effectively deal with the prevailing situation, officials said on July 5.

The 'COVID-19 War Room', which is being set up at the Delhi Secretariat, will be manned by around 25 experts. It is expected to become operational in the next few days.

According to the plan, the new strategic facility will cover all aspects such as testing, bed strength, medical equipment, ambulance infrastructure and containment zones.

It will represent a snapshot of the city's position when it comes to tackling the COVID-19 situation, the officials said, adding that Chief Secretary Vijay Dev has directed officials to set up the same as soon as possible.

Officials said that the 'COVID-19 War Room' will also flag discrepancies in those areas wherein authorities can take steps to prepare a robust system.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

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.

How many types of vaccines are there?

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.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

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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