STAFF REPORTER
ISLAMABAD Chairman, Task Force of Pakistan Science and Technology, Dr Ata-urRehman on Sunday said that in order to counter COVID-19, Pakistani laboratories were working on a project by using two drugs for tackling the patients having symptoms of virus. Talking to media he said that 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 said that the virus entered into this region, was a third family virus appeared before the world with the name of COVID-19. He said in the recent years, there was a Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), and that the families of virus had affected a number of people in some countries including Gulf region. In reply to a question about 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, he said the research was in progress in labs for identifying the exact number of stages of mutation here. To a question about preparation of vaccination, he said ministry of science and technology has claimed to initiate the process of vaccination but this was a first phase w here the health experts were working on it. 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.
