Country's premiere technology and research institutes, the Indian Institutes of Technology or the IITs, are currently engaged in 202 active research projects to tackle the COVID-19. Of these, 25 research projects are based on data science and Artificial Intelligence.
Majority of the projects, 46 in number, that are being done at IITs include developing personal protective equipment for patients and healthcare workers which include face mask, face shield, protective gown or body suits, surgical marks etc. using low cost component, with high efficiency in terms of quality and anti viral efficacy.
Research initiatives like production of compostable plastic marks is being done by the IIT Guwahati and from May onwards they can provide 10,000 masks per day. These masks can easily be reused and recycled and finally can be composed/ biodegrade. The institute is also working on developing affordable antiviral/ antimicrobial spray based coating for personal protective equipment's to kill and prevent spread of coronavirus.
Researchers at IIT Bhubaneswar are working on a face shield with antimicrobial properties.
On testing kits, 21 active projects are being done at the IITs.
While IIT Kharagpur is working on a smartphone integrated paper strip kit for rapid low-cost diagnostics of COVID-19 infection, the Department of Biotechnology at IIT Madras has proposed to set up a covid19 testing facility. IIT Palakkad is aiming to develop a low-cost test kit for the rapid screening of COVID-19 patients.
IIT Kharagpur and IIT Madras are currently engaged in 4 and 5 active projects, respectively for developing testing kits for COVID-19. IIT Delhi, Roorkee, BHU and Guwahati have two projects each in this field.
Researchers are also working on developing highly efficient sanitizers, which are very important to contain the spread of coronavirus. IIT Bombay is working on portable / wheeled uvc germicidal unit / station for disinfection. It is also working on developing low cost incinerators for gloves and mask disposal. Many IITs have already developed sanitizers as per the norms of World Health Organisation (WHO).
35 projects are being done at IITs for development of medical equipment like real time PCR machine and ventilators. IIT Guwahati is working on robot-based screening unit for temperature measurement and drug/ food carrying unit to work in isolation wards.
Various apps and tracking devices are also being developed to trace COVID carriers. IoT enabled patient monitoring system, hands free thermal scanner, travel tracker, etc are among 14 such projects undertaken by IITs.
30 pharmacological, non-pharmacological research projects are also being done at IITs currently.
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