Dr. Ata, Chairman Task Force of Pakistan Science and Technology, is hopeful that in order to counter COVID-19, Pakistani laboratories are working on a project by using combination of two drugs for tackling the patients having symptoms of virus.
The combination of antimalarial drug namely Hydroxychloroquine and Erthromycine, being used for treating a wide variety of bacterial infections, could produce better results after clinical tests of patients infected w ith COVID-19. About the mutation of the virus, Chairman Dr. Ata ur Rehman elaborated that the virus entered into South Asia is a third family virus that appeared before the world with the name of COVID-19.
In recent years, there was Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), and that the families of the virus had affected a number of people in some countries including the Gulf region.
In reply to a question about the intensity of the virus in Pakistan, he said COVID-19, due to mutation stages, was not as vulnerable in this region as compared to America, Spain, Italy, and other European regions. However, research is in progress in labs for identifying the exact number of stages of mutation here.
To a question about the preparation of vaccination, he answered ministry of science and technology has claimed to initiate the process of vaccination but this is the first phase where the health experts are working on it.
The combination of drugs are widely used in other countries as well for COVID-19. He disclosed that in the second stage, the concerned team would have to approach for Drugs Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) for carrying forward the procedure after approval. The vaccine will be launched after approval from DRAP.