All about the important research studies in India about COVID-19
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 23, 2020
In addition to identification, isolation & treatment of COVID-19 infected persons, research has an important role to play in planning & strategizing government’s response to the pandemic. Here is a summary of some important research studies published by the Indian Journal of Medical Research.
The COVID-19epidemic is caused by a new strain of Coronavirus which was not detectedearlier in Human beings. Coronavirus are a large group of viruses which causeillness ranging from common cold to more severe diseases. A novel
strain of Coronavirus was identified to be the cause ofpneumonia cases detected in Wuhan, China. This Coronavirus was temporarilynamed as ‘2019-nCov’. The disease is now referred to as COVID-19 (CoronaVirus Disease -2019).
The initial research suggests that it has zoonotic origins i.e originating from animals, and could be a bat-borne virus. Since it is a new type of virus, there is a lot of research being carried out across the world to understand the nature of the virus, origins of its transmission to humans, the structure of it, possible cure/vaccine to treat COVID-19 etc. India is also part of these research efforts.
In this story, we take a look at few of the interesting and important research being carried out in India with respect to COVID-19. We have referred to the research articles published on ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research)’s Indian Journal of Medical Research.
SARI
patients with no record of international travel or contact with infected
persons tested positive for COVID-19
Theresources required to test India’s huge population for possible cases ofCOVID-19 is immense since the availability of the resources like testing kits,labs, personnel etc. is limited. Hence it is important to optimize testing bydeveloping strategies to identify potential cases who have a higher chance ofbeing infected.
As per the research article titled, ‘Severe acute respiratory surveillance for coronavirus disease 2019, India,2020’, the objective of the research was based on the pretext that surveillance of Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) patients can help in identifying the spread and the transmission of the COVID-19.
SARIpatients who were admitted across 41 sentinel sites were tested for COVID-19.As per the analysis of the data extracted from ‘Virus Research and DiagnosticLaboratory Network’ (VRDL),
Another article on IJMR, recommends active surveillance of symptomatic patients in view of the challenges involved in testing the huge population of India.
24-hour working model for testing can increase the testing capacity
Aggressive testing to understand the spread of infection is suggested as one of the more effective ways of containing the spread of the virus. Some of the countries at the forefront of tackling COVID-19 have been conducting a higher number of tests. This research is important in the context of India, which is still not testing at the level of other countries. It helps devise an optimal testing strategy to effectively identify the spread of the virus.
A study was conducted to explore the interventions needed to increase the daily testing capacity for COVID-19 in India.  For this, a potential increase in daily testing capacity in the existing public laboratories was calculated in three different shifts – 9 hrs., 16 hrs. & 24 hrs.
Interventionswhich were identified for increasing the capacity included – Procurement ofadditional qRT-PCR machines, leveraging the capacity of the current availablemachines, optimizing the in-laboratory processes etc.
The studyprojected the following based on available infrastructure:
However, toincrease the testing capacity there is also a need to increase the procurementof the various commodities like testing kits, swabs, extraction kits etc. Thestudy has also projected the volume of these commodities that India needs toprocure over the next few months.
Distinct
clusters of Coronaviruses found in few species of Bats found in India
Few pieces of research suggest that the strain of Coronavirus which has caused COVID-19 is transmitted to humans through bats. There have been earlier instances of virus transmission through bats.
A research study was conducted to assess the presence of Coronaviruses (CoVs) in the bats that are found in India.  The identification of bat CoV was carried on two bat species – Pteropus .medius & Rousettus, found in few Indian states. The bat samples were screened from seven states. For this:
In theRousettus species of Bats, 4 out of 78 RS were found to be positive, all ofwhich belong to the state of Kerala. The intestinal specimen of two bats wasfound positive. While all the TS reported negative for any of the CoronaViruses.
Even in the case of Pteropus. species of Bats, all the Throat Swabs (TS) tested negative whereas 21 of the 508 RS were found to be positive. Next-Generation Sequencing and further analysis showed that the CoVs retrieved from these bats form a distinct cluster to that of the CoVs which are known to cause human infection.
Mathematical models indicate the need for Public Health interventions to contain the spread of COVID-19 epidemic.
The rapidspread of COVID-19 across the world has created an unprecedented situation.With a vaccine yet to be developed and no conclusive clarity on the treatmentmethods, the only approach being suggested is to contain the spread.
A research study has highlighted the impact of proactive intervention in mitigating the spread of the virus through human-human transmission.  The main objective of the study was to identify the possibility to prevent or delay the local outbreaks of COVID-19 through quarantining and other containment methods.
Mathematical models of infectious disease transmission were used for the study. An optimistic and pessimistic scenario were projected based on the data available.
The models indicate that modest delays can be gained by identifying the symptomatic cases based on the travel history and at the port-of-entry screening etc.
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