Niti Aayog, stakeholders discuss R&D requirement for coronavirus vaccine

NEW DELHI: Niti Aayog Member V K Paul on Wednesday chaired a meeting with the government's Principal Scientific Adviser K Vijay Raghavan on the R&D requirement for developing a vaccine for Covid-19.

The deadly virus, which originated in China in December last year, has spread to 155 countries, infected more than 180,000 people and claimed over 8,000 lives.

"NITIAayog Member Dr VK Paul chaired a meeting with @PrinSciAdvGoI on the R&D requirement for developing the vaccine for #COVID19," the Niti Aayog said in a tweet.




Representatives from the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology; Department of Science and Technology; Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Delhi; CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology; and the National Cooperative Development Corp of India also attended the meeting, it added.

The number of novel coronavirus cases in India rose to 151 on Wednesday after four more were reported from various parts of the country, according to the Health Ministry.