“Government is striving to ensure uninterrupted supply of N-95 masks in adequate quantity in the country. For this, the government is procuring the largest chunk of the N-95 masks directly from the manufacturers/ importers/ suppliers at bulk rates,” the statement said.

India has 0.5 beds per 1,000 people, according to the latest data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), up from 0.4 beds in 2009, but among lowest of countries surveyed by the OECD. In contrast, China has 4.3 hospital beds per 1,000 people and the United States has 2.8, according to the latest OECD figures.

While millions of India’s poor rely on the public health system, especially in rural areas, private facilities account for 55% of hospital admissions, according to government data. The private health sector has been growing over the past two decades, especially in India’s big cities, where an expanding class of affluent Indians can afford private care.

India’s Pune-based Serum Institute is not only India’s largest biotech company but one of the world’s largest. It has the capacity to produce 1.5 billion doses of vaccine annually. It is currently working on three projects to produce COVID-19 vaccines – one is with UK’s Oxford University, another with US-based biotech Codagenix, and it is also working on its own vaccine. To save time, it is taking the risk of preparing part of its facilities to be ready to produce between 20-40 million doses as soon as in September although one or more of the vaccines being worked on may not succeed in clinical trials or be approved by health authorities.
Singapore was involved in the international clinical trial of the Gilead Sciences drug remdesivir which was initially developed to treat Ebola. Around 100 patients in Singapore were enrolled in the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) led international trial which had about 1,000 patients taking part globally. The trial showed that remdesivir significantly improved recovery prospects of COVID-19 patients.

“How quickly we reach the numbers required will depend on the levels of virus transmission in the community. If transmission remains high, we may get enough data in a couple of months to see if the vaccine works, but if transmission levels drop, this could take up to 6 months,” the university said