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Subject: Science and Technology

  • Man versus microbe

    Context

    The present COVID-19 outbreak has brought to light the old struggle between humans and viruses.

    The constant struggle between humans and viruses

    • Hijacking the cell machinery of the host: Microbes, particularly viruses, have only one goal — to find a suitable host and multiply. Viruses, however, do not multiply by themselves. They need the cell machinery of the host for replication.
    • Around two-thirds of all infections in humans are caused by viruses.
    • The current COVID-19 outbreak caused by a coronavirus, SARS-CoV2, has brought this struggle to light once again.
    • Coronavirus has the upper hand now: The virus seems highly successful because it spreads rapidly from human to human and has a lower rate of mortality.
    • Humans have faced new viruses at regular intervals. These include the Ebola, Zika, HIV, the Flu virus H1N1, the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) — the latter two are from the coronavirus family.
    • Animal to humans: These viruses have all appeared in the last few decades, having jumped from their animal reservoirs to humans.
    • Many of these viruses have a much higher mortality rate than the SARS-CoV2 that caused COVID-19.
    • Victory would be at huge costs: Like before, humans will come out of the present crisis as winners but that will happen at a huge cost, in every sense of the word.
    • The loss would include untimely loss of human lives, economic losses and a general loss of confidence in the human ability to deal with a tiny unknown enemy.

    Steps involved in dealing with the virus

    • It involves dealing with any new viral outbreak is to be able to accurately test, detect and track the spread of the virus, and isolate the infected persons to stop further spread.
    • Knowing the genetic makeup of virus matters: In order to implement the first step, it is important to obtain information on the genetic makeup of the virus, which forms the basis of developing highly specific diagnostic tests.
    • Three types of tests are being used which have different advantages associated with them and are based on different technologies. These are described below-

    1. What is the RT-PCR technique?

    • Currently, the most reliable and widely-used test is based on a technique called RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription Time Polymerase Chain Reaction).
    • This test aims to detect the viral RNA, the genetic material of SARS-CoV2.
    • The testing begins with the careful collection of swabs taken from the nose or the back of the throat of the patient and extraction of the viral RNA.
    • However, this extracted viral RNA from the swab is too tiny an amount for direct detection.
    • Amplification: The RT-PCR, through many different reactions that include the conversion of viral RNA to DNA — its amplification and detection — makes it possible to confirm the presence or absence of the virus.
    • The testing kits contain all chemicals and materials required for carrying out the RT-PCR based tests, which are performed by government-approved laboratories such as India’s National Institute of Virology.
    • However, many more testing centres, including those run by private players, have now been allowed to carry out the tests in many countries to bridge the huge demand and supply gap.
    • Why testing matters? It is now clear that countries which were able to scale up the testing of the virus in patients at an early stage were able to control the spread of the disease far better than those which did not.
    • Only viable control measure: Given that there is no cure or vaccine for the control of COVID-19, testing of infected patients much more quickly and tracking their contacts to isolate them till they clear off the virus is currently the only viable control measure.

    2. How CRISPR is proving helpful in scaling up the testing?

    • There is good news of a relatively new but powerful technology called CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats).
    • CRISPR is highly specific in directly detecting viral RNA and confirming the presence or absence of the virus.
    • Interestingly, viruses also attack bacteria and the discovery of CRISPR itself was based on understanding how bacteria cut off the viruses.
    • What are the advantages of CRISPR-based test? The CRISPR-based test is quick and circumvents the need for both expert handling as well as PCR machines and can be done at multiple locations in about half an hour.
    • It can also fend off delays and other logistic problems in collection and transportation of test samples.
    • These tests are being validated and readied for approval.
    • Two companies, separately founded by the two scientists who discovered the CRISPR technique, have also announced that they are ready with their CRISPR-based test for validation and approval.
    • Test in 10 minutes: They have claimed that these tests can be performed within 10 minutes and can be conducted by using a paper strip format.
    • Test in 5 minutes: Another company, Abbott Laboratories, has recently announced the approval of their portable test for coronavirus, which the company claims can provide the results in five minutes.
    • Such a point of care test will not only greatly enhance the speed of large-scale testing but will also relieve the tremendous pressure faced by frontline healthcare providers.

    3. Serological tests to detect the realistic information on the spread of the virus

    • Why we need serological tests? The above described RT-PCR and the newly developed CRISPR based tests are needed for scaling up the testing.
    • But many individuals infected with the virus do not show symptoms of the disease and recover completely.
    • How to test these cases to gather realistic information on the spread of the virus?
    • Such information will be necessary for designing future control strategies.
    • How serological tests work? This is done with serological tests, which are carried out in blood samples collected from a large population and are based on the detection of antibodies that are produced in response to the viral infection.
    • Advantage of the serological tests: These tests are relatively easier to develop and use, less expensive, and also do not need much sophisticated infrastructure or highly trained manpower.
    • Serological tests for COVID-19 have already been developed by many groups and are already in use.
    • India also plans to carry out serological tests to examine the actual spread of the disease in different parts of the country.

    Conclusion

    Lockdowns are essential to control the disease but long-term strategies to deal with the disease would be based on the knowledge of its actual spread. The newly-developed point of care tests should be successfully able to bridge the existing gap in the testing of the virus. This will also assist in gearing up facilities to treat the severely sick as well as relieve and protect frontline health providers. Meanwhile, hopefully, efficient drugs therapies and efficacious vaccines against COVID-19 will also be discovered soon.

  • What is Geo-fencing?

    The Centre is using powers under the Indian Telegraph Act to “fetch information” from telecom companies every 15 minutes to track COVID-19 cases across the country.

    What is Geo-fencing?

    • A geofence is a virtual perimeter for a real-world geographic area.
    • A geo-fence could be dynamically generated—as in a radius around a point location, or a geo-fence can be a predefined set of boundaries (such as school zones or neighbourhood boundaries).
    • The use of a geofence is called geofencing, and one example of usage involves a location-aware device of a location-based service (LBS) user entering or exiting a geo-fence.
    • This activity could trigger an alert to the device’s user as well as messaging to the geo-fence operator.

    Tracking COVID-19 patients

    • The government has tested an application that triggers e-mails and SMS alerts to an authorised government agency if a person has jumped quarantine or escaped from isolation, based on the person’s mobile phone’s cell tower location.
    • This “geo-fencing” is accurate by up to 300 m.

  • GRACE-FO Mission

    NASA releases new global maps mapping groundwater, soil wetness using GRACE-FO satellites.

    GRACE-FO Mission

    • The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO) mission is a partnership between NASA and the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ).
    • GRACE-FO is a successor to the original GRACE mission, which orbited Earth from 2002-2017.
    • It carries on the extremely successful work of its predecessor while testing a new technology designed to dramatically improve the already remarkable precision of its measurement system.

    Why need such data on groundwater and soil moisture?

    • Groundwater and soil moisture — which depicts wetness in soil — are crucial for irrigation and crop growth.
    • The need to constantly monitor groundwater and soil moisture is important since both act as useful indicators for predicting drought conditions.
    • One of the goals of the new global maps is to make the same consistent product available in all parts of the world, especially in countries that do not have any groundwater-monitoring infrastructure.
    • The data would help in managing the selection of appropriate agricultural crops and predicting yields.

  • Covid-19 Quarantine Alert System (CQAS)

    The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has shared a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) with all telecom service providers regarding the application called COVID-19 Quarantine Alert System (CQAS).

    • CQAS collects phone data, including the device’s location, on a common secured platform and alerts the local agencies in case of a violation by COVID patients under watch or in isolation.

    Quarantine Alert System (CQAS)

    • Developed By: The DoT and the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), in coordination with telecom service providers, have developed and tested the application.
    • Working: The CQAS prepares a list of mobile numbers, segregates them on the basis of telecom service providers, and the location data provided by the telecom companies are run on the application to create geo-fencing.
    • Geo-fencing is a location-based service in which an app or other software uses GPS, RFID, Wi-Fi or cellular data to trigger a pre-programmed action when a mobile device or RFID tag enters or exits a virtual boundary set up around a geographical location, known as a geofence.
    • Geo-fencing will only work if the quarantined person has a mobile phone from Airtel, Vodafone-Idea or Reliance Jio, as “BSNL/MTNL” do not support location-based services. BSNL and MTNL are government-owned.
    • The location information is received periodically over a secure network for the authorised cases with “due protection of the data received”.
    • The System triggers e-mails and SMS alerts to an authorised government agency if a person has jumped quarantine or escaped from isolation, based on the person’s mobile phone’s cell tower location. The “geo-fencing” is accurate by up to 300 m.

    Use of Powers under the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885

    • The Centre is using powers under the Indian Telegraph Act to “fetch information” from telecom companies every 15 minutes to track COVID-19 cases across the country.
    • The States have been asked to seek the approval of their Home Secretaries under the provisions of Section 5(2) of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, for the specified mobile phone numbers to request the DoT to provide information by email or SMS in case of violation of “geo-fencing”.
    • Section 5(2) authorises State or Centre to access information of a user’s phone data in case of “occurrence of any public emergency or in the interest of the public safety.”

    Protection of Data

    • As per the SOP, the phone number should be deleted from the system after the period for which location monitoring required is over and the data would be deleted four weeks from thereon.
    • The data collected shall be used only for the purpose of Health Management in the context of COVID-19 and is strictly not for any other purposes. Any violation in this regard would attract penal provisions under the relevant laws.

    Centre for Development of Telematics

    • C-DOT was established in August 1984 as an autonomous Telecom R&D Centre of DoT.
    • It is a registered society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
    • It is a registered ‘public-funded research institution’ with the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Ministry of Science & Technology.

    Global Positioning System

    • The Global Positioning System is a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), used to determine the ground position of an object.
    • It is a US-owned utility that provides users with Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) services.

    Radio-Frequency Identification

    • Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) is the use of radio waves to read and capture information stored on a tag attached to an object.
    • A tag can be read from up to several feet away and does not need to be within the direct line-of-sight of the reader to be tracked.

    Wi-Fi

    • Wi-Fi is the name of a wireless networking technology that uses radio waves to provide wireless high-speed Internet and network connections.
    • WiFi network enables a connection between two or more devices wirelessly for data sharing purposes.

  • Sodium Hypochlorite as Coronavirus disinfectant

    In Uttar Pradesh, migrant workers travelling to their home states, or their belongings, were sprayed with a disinfectant, apparently to sanitise them.  The chemical in the spray was a sodium hypochlorite solution.

    Sodium hypochlorite

    • Sodium hypochlorite is commonly used as a bleaching agent, and also to sanitise swimming pools.
    • As a common bleaching agent, sodium hypochlorite is used for a variety of cleaning and disinfecting purposes.
    • It releases chlorine, which is a disinfectant. Large quantities of chlorine can be harmful.
    • The concentration of the chemical in the solution varies according to the purpose it is meant for.
    • A normal household bleach usually is a 2-10% sodium hypochlorite solution.
    • At a much lower 0.25-0.5%, this chemical is used to treat skin wounds like cuts or scrapes. An even weaker solution (0.05%) is sometimes used as a handwash.

    Note: The common bleaching powder is chemically referred to as Calcium hypochlorite and not Sodium hypochlorite.

    Is the chemical safe?

    • Sodium hypochlorite is corrosive and is meant largely to clean hard surfaces.
    • It is not recommended to be used on human beings, certainly not as a spray or shower. Even a 0.05% solution could be very harmful for the eyes.
    • A 1% solution can cause damage to the skin of anyone who comes in contact with it.
    • If it gets inside the body, it can cause serious harm to lungs.

    Does the chemical get rid of the novel coronavirus?

    • The WHO recommends homemade bleach solutions of about 2-10% concentration to clean hard surfaces to clear them of any presence of the novel coronavirus.
    • Cleaning hard surfaces with this solution can disinfect them not just from novel coronavirus but also help prevent flu, food born illnesses, and more.

  • Convalescent Plasma Therapy

    With no specific treatment available for novel coronavirus disease and a vaccine at least a year away, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved use of blood plasma from recovered patients to treat severely critical COVID-19 patients.

    Convalescent Plasma Therapy

    • The therapy seeks to make use of the antibodies developed in the recovered patient against the coronavirus.
    • The whole blood or plasma from such people is taken, and the plasma is then injected in critically ill patients so that the antibodies are transferred and boost their fight against the virus.
    • A COVID-19 patient usually develops primary immunity against the virus in 10-14 days.
    • Therefore, if the plasma is injected at an early stage, it can possibly help fight the virus and prevent severe illness.

    How often has it been used in the past?

    • This therapy is no new wonder. It has been used several times.
    • The US used plasma of recovered patients to treat patients of Spanish flu (1918-1920).
    • In 2014, the WHO released guidelines to treat Ebola patients with convalescent whole blood and plasma.
    • In 2015, plasma was used for treating MERS patients.

    How is it done?

    • The process to infuse plasma in a patient can be completed quickly.
    • It only requires standard blood collection practices, and extraction of plasma.
    • If whole blood is donated (350-450 ml), a blood fractionation process is used to separate the plasma.
    • Otherwise, a special machine called aphaeresis machine can be used to extract the plasma directly from the donor.
    • While blood is indeed extracted from the donor, the aphaeresis machine separates and extracts the plasma using a plasma kit, and the remaining blood components are returned into the donor’s body.

    WHO’s guidelines

    • WHO guidelines in 2014 mandate a donor’s permission before extracting plasma.
    • Plasma from only recovered patients must be taken, and donation must be done from people not infected with HIV, hepatitis, syphilis, or any infectious disease.
    • If whole blood is collected, the plasma is separated by sedimentation or centrifugation, then injected in the patient.
    • If plasma needs to be collected again from the same person, it must be done after 12 weeks of the first donation for males and 16 weeks for females, the WHO guidelines state.

    How optimistic is the latest move?

    • COVID-19 does not have a specific treatment, only supportive care— including antiviral drugs, oxygen supply in mild cases and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.
    • Plasma can be infused into two kinds of COVID-19 patients— those with a severe illness, or individuals at a higher risk of getting the virus.
    • However, that while plasma transfers immunity from one person to another, it is not known if it can save lives in COVID-19 infection.
    • The treatment could be effective for patients in the age group 40-60, but may be less effective for people aged beyond 60 years.

    Can it be done in India?

    • India has facilities for removing 500 ml of plasma from a donor using aphaeresis.
    • For this experimental therapy to be tried out, the Drug Controller General of India will first have to grant blood banks approval for removal of plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients.
    • The procedure is simple and can be done in India, but it is important to control the risk of infection during transfusion, and the patient’s acceptance is required.
    • It’s like a vaccine. It will engulf the virus and kill it. But it is easier said than done. We may need a series of approvals which India has never done before.

  • Schedule H1 drugs

    Hydroxychloroquine is now a schedule H1 drug and can be sold on prescription only.

    What are Schedule H1 drugs?

    • The sale of the Hydroxychloroquine drug from now on should be in accordance with the conditions for sale of drugs specified in Schedule H1 to the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945.
    • In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 26B of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 (23 of 1940), the Central Government can direct that sale by retail of any drug.

    Why such move?

    • The Central Government is satisfied that the drug ‘Hydroxychloroquine’ is essential to meet the requirements of emergency arising due to pandemic COVID-19.
    • And in the public interest, it is necessary to regulate and restrict the sale and distribution of the drug ‘Hydroxychloroquine’ and preparation based thereon for preventing their misuse.

    Hydroxychloroquine

    • Hydroxychloroquine is used to prevent or treat malaria infections caused by mosquito bites.
    • It does not work against certain types of malaria (chloroquine-resistant).

    Pls take a note-

    • Hydroxychloroquine and a related drug, chloroquine, are currently under study as possible treatments for COVID-19.
    • These drugs have not yet been approved for this use.
    • Do not use these medications to treat COVID-19 unless your doctor recommends that you do so.

  • Indian Scientists’ Response to CoViD-19 (ISRC) Group

    Several Indian scientists have come together to form a Google group to address some of the concerns that the COVID-19 outbreak has thrown up.

    Indian Scientists’ Response to CoViD-19 (ISRC)

    • It is a voluntary group of scientists who regularly discuss the rapidly evolving situation with its dire need for science communication.
    • With nearly 200 members, the group has scientists from institutions such as the NCBS, the IISc, the TIFR, the IITs, the IISERs and many others.
    • The group aims to study existing and available data to bring out analyses that will support the Central, State and local governments in carrying out their tasks.

    Self-assigned tasks

    • Several working groups have been formed by scientists.
    • They include one on hoax busting to address disinformation spreading with respect to the coronavirus and one on science popularization to develop material that explains concepts such as home quarantine.
    • Other groups work on resources in Indian languages, mathematical models and apps.

    Why such a group?

    • The scientific community has realized their social and democratic responsibility in the current situation, both in terms of analysing the situation and reaching out to the public.

  • Serological test for COVID-19

    The ICMR invited bids for an estimated 10 lakh antibody kits (for serological tests) for the diagnosis of COVID-19.

    What are serological tests?

    • Viral infections are mainly identified by two kinds of tests– genetic and serological.
    • Genetic tests can identify infections that are active but cannot be used to detect past infections.
    • To trace how infections like the novel coronavirus have spread so far, it is important to detect people who contracted the disease in the past and have recovered.
    • This is what serological tests seek to determine.

    How are the two different?

    • The genetic test is conducted on a swab collected from the back of the throat, a liquid sample from the lower respiratory tract, or a simple saliva sample.
    • For SARS-COV-2, the virus’s RNA is first converted into DNA.
    • By a process called polymerase chain reaction (PCR), DNA fragments in the sample are copied exponentially — one is copied into two, the two are copied into four, and so on.
    • Unlike genetic tests, which look for RNA in swab samples, serological tests work on antibodies in blood samples. Hence, they are also called ‘antibody tests’.

    How serological tests work?

    • Antibodies, or protective proteins produced by the immune system to neutralize pathogens such as bacteria and viruses, are present in one’s bloodstream for a considerable period of time after the infection has gone.
    • To disable a pathogen, the antibody latches to a unique protein molecule on pathogen’s surface, called an antigen.
    • Serological tests use antigen molecules to detect the presence of antibodies relevant to the infection.
    • Generally, a blood sample is placed in a test tube that is lined with antigens on the inside. If the relevant antibodies are present, they latch on to the antigens.
    • Such tests are relatively inexpensive, and can display results within a few minutes.

  • [pib] Project ‘Isaac’

    IIT, Gandhinagar has launched Project Isaac to engage its students in creative projects to enhance their critical skills while they are confined to their homes because of Coronavirus.

    Project ‘Isaac’

    • The project is inspired by Sir Isaac Newton, who was similarly sent home by Trinity College, Cambridge, because of the Great Plague of London in 1665.
    • During this year, Newton, then a 22-year-old college student developed some of his most profound discoveries, including early calculus, as well as his theories of optics and gravity.
    • As part of the project, four different competitions are being organized by IIT, Gandhinagar to cultivate new skills among students regarding writing, painting, coding, music, creative expression, and so on.
    • Students can take part in competitions online.