The fight against coronavirus will be won through vaccine and drugs as India's science and technology institutions and pharma industry are very strong, said Dr VK Paul, Member, NITI Aayog and Chairman, Empowered Group 1, here on Thursday.
"The fight against coronavirus will be won through vaccine and drugs. Our country's science and technology institutions and pharma industry are very strong. India's pharma industry is known as the pharmacy of the world and vaccines made in India are being used and are known all over the world," said Dr Paul while addressing a press conference here.
Dr Paul, while highlighting India's efforts on the development of drugs, vaccines and technologies for testing, said: "We are very proud of our strong scientific base, strong pharmaceutical industry. All our scientific institutes are fighting against COVID-19."
Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA) to the Government of India, Prof K Vijay Raghavan said: "There are about a total of 30 groups in India, big industry to individual academics, who are trying to develop vaccines. Around 20 of which are keeping a good pace."
The Central government has formed the Empowered Group 1 for coordinating medical emergency management plan in view of the coronavirus pandemic.
With 6,566 more coronavirus cases and 194 deaths reported in the past 24 hours, India's COVID-19 count reached 1,58,333 on Thursday, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
The number of active coronavirus cases stands at 86,110, while 67,692 people have recovered and one patient has migrated. The death toll due to the infection has reached 4,531 in the country.
( With inputs from ANI )