IIT Hyderabad Director Prof BS Murty and Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering's Prof V Eswaran have on Monday said that 80 million Indians could get infected by the novel coronavirus pandemic which has wreaked havoc globally, claiming 34,807 lives and infecting 735,145 so far.
Given the fact that India has a population of 1.3 billion people and assuming a low 6 per cent infection rate, also considering that the coronavirus advancement continues at the current rate, the IIT Hyderabad professors said that around 80 million people would get affected by the virus, reported India Today.
The professors have urged the government to adopt 'bag valve mask' as an alternative to meet the rising demand for ventilators amidst the pandemic. The 'bag valve masks', which are already considered in other countries, are inexpensive, easy to produce, and portable. However, the regular ventilators are costly and not portable.
Prof BS Murty and Prof V Eswaran further added, "We are proposing that the Government of India (through the Department of Science and Technology/Defence Research and Development Organisation, or some other nodal organization) constitute a highly empowered taskforce, which will carry out the tasks needed to start the production of these low-cost ventilators, within a maximum time-frame of two months."
Meanwhile, 92 new cases of COVID-19 and four deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours in the country. The total confirmed cases rose to 1071, while the death toll rose to 29 so far.
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