Sooner, better: On indigenously(देश में ही) developed COVID-19 test kits
Indigenously developed tests will allow scaling up of efforts to detect infections
Thanks to the pandemic, scientific institutions in in India have been able to demonstrate their ability to rise to the occasion and show why the country should increase funding for science research and development. The ICMR’s approval, recently, of two indigenously developed tests that are rapid, low-cost and have high sensitivity and specificity provides the much-needed boost to scale up daily testing without diluting(गिराए) accuracy. After carrying out about one million tests each day for the last few weeks, India, for the first time, tested nearly 1.5 million samples on October 21. While most tests done each day were the low sensitivity rapid antigen(प्रतिजन) tests, the ones developed by the Delhi-based Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, a CSIR institute, and IIT Kharagpur will now enable the shift to more accurate tests. The low sensitivity of rapid antigen tests has meant that even people with symptoms were being handed out a negative result nearly half the time, leading to undetected cases. With unrestricted movement, businesses opening up, the festival season beginning and winter around the corner, the requirement for a rapid, low-cost test with high accuracy is crucial in checking the virus spread through early detection and repeated testing of even asymptomatic cases. Having locally developed tests with higher accuracy will now help States to offer tests on demand — as required in a September 4 ICMR advisory — while keeping costs low.While the low sensitivity of rapid antigen tests arises from not isolating the viral RNA from the swab samples and amplification of the DNA before detection, the two indigenously developed tests follow these two vital steps, the reason why the sensitivity and specificity are far superior to that of the rapid antigen tests. But, at the same time, both the tests developed locally do require minimum laboratory infrastructure to isolate the viral RNA from the samples. For that reason, India has to still rely on rapid antigen tests in rural areas that have no laboratory infrastructure. But the tests developed by the Indian institutions, once commercially available, can readily replace the rapid antigen tests in places where such laboratory infrastructure is in place. Rapid antigen tests will become less important even in rural areas once research institutions succeed in developing protocols and tests for using saliva rather than swabs, and do not require isolation of viral RNA from patient samples before amplification and detection. Field testing and validation of such protocols is now pending. Relying on saliva samples would mean non-invasive sample collection, and probably even self-collection. Thus, the reliance on trained personnel would reduce and also minimise the risk of health workers getting infected.
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Unrest in Pakistan: On movement against Imran Khan government
Popular sentiment is building against the Army and the government
Events in Pakistan’s Sindh province in the last few days indicate that the Imran Khan government is dealing with a serious political crisis, perhaps its biggest, since taking office in 2018. Eleven Opposition parties, which have now formed the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), have held two mammoth rallies, part of a plan for nationwide agitations, calling for the resignation of the PTI government over law and order, food shortages, inflation and gas cuts. They have called the Prime Minister both a failure at governance and the military’s “puppet”. But what has surprised many is their solidarity as well as the sharpness of their attack: at the rally in Gujranwala, former PM and Pakistan Muslim League (N) chief Nawaz Sharif, speaking from London, named Army Chief Gen. Qamar Bajwa and ISI chief Lt. Gen. Faiz Hameed for “rigging elections”, restrictions on the media, harassment of journalists, putting pressure on the judiciary and subverting other democratic institutions. While most Pakistani politicians, Mr. Khan included, have attacked Pakistan’s omnipotent military establishment when in opposition, and drop the rhetoric when they come to power, Mr. Sharif’s comments indicate a popular sentiment that is chafing at the curbs by the Pakistani establishment. The PTI government’s response is a well-worn script. For the past few months, government prosecutors, on Mr. Khan’s orders, have focused on preparing cases to send as many members of the Opposition to prison. The co-chairperson of the Pakistan’s People’s Party and former Pakistan President, Asif Ali Zardari, is already in custody on money laundering charges, while the government has requested the U.K. many times to extradite Mr. Sharif so that he can be charged and tried again.
With the next generation of Bilawal Bhutto and Maryam Nawaz taking the stage at PDM rallies, the government swung into its next act: arresting Ms. Nawaz’s husband, Captain Safdar, after a midnight raid on their hotel in Karachi, charging him with disrespecting Jinnah’s mausoleum by raising anti-government slogans there. What made matters erupt was the arrest that had reportedly been carried out after Army rangers surrounded the Sindh Inspector General’s home and forced him to sign the FIR against Mr. Safdar. Top echelons of Sindh’s police force, backed by the Provincial PPP government, rose in outrage, applying en masse for leave after expressing their distress over the humiliation meted out to their chief. This was an unprecedented response which could have seen a more serious stand-off between the police and the Army. Matters are under control for the moment after Gen. Bajwa has promised an inquiry report on the controversial arrest within the next 10 days. However, with politics on the boil again and the PDM planning at least four more rallies this year, it is clear that Pakistan’s ruling party will find its feet held to the fire more frequently,
Unrest --अशांति
mammoth --विशाल
agitations-आंदोलन
solidarity--एकजुटता
subverting--को नष्ट
omnipotent--सर्वशक्तिमान
rhetoric--
extradite--अपराधी देना
mausoleum--समाधि
echelons--नेताओं
unprecedented--अभूतपूर्व
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