Israelis to test developing technologies on Indian corona patients

ISLAMABAD: Israel is bringing vital medical equipment to India including “groundbreaking technologies” that could help advance the development of means to more effectively fight the coronavirus pandemic.

The technologies currently in the development stage will be tested on Indians who contracted the virus. A plane carrying some 20 Israeli officials and scientists and tons of gear including ventilators and novel devices that are not yet produced on a mass scale is to reach New Delhi,” Israeli officials said. The “unprecedented” delivery is a joint project of the health, defence and foreign ministries and the office of India’s chief scientist, and has been weeks in the making, Israeli the Defence Ministry said.

Beside the delivery of conventional aid such as ventilators, the special plane to Indian capital will also serve to bring technologies currently in the development stage to India so they can be tested on Indians who contracted the virus. The ministry has been spearheading the project to “carry out the final stages of research into advanced technologies for the speedy diagnosis of the coronavirus,” according to the ministry.

The equipment to be shipped to India will include four “groundbreaking Israeli technologies” donated by the Foreign Ministry and the private sector geared to help India to deal with the pandemic, including one that aims to detect the virus through an analysis of a suspected patient’s voice. “The four tech systems that will be tested are: voice test, breathalyzer test based on terra-hertz waves, isothermal test, and polyomino acids test.”

What they all have in common is the ability to detect the presence of the virus in the body quickly usually within minutes, the ministry said. “Developing diagnostic capabilities is a goal for Israel and of many additional countries around the world. It is the most effective way to cut off ‘chains of infection,’ prevent prolonged quarantine and enable the reopening of the global economy.”