ICMR plans to set up registry of hospitalised COVID-19 patients
New Delhi: A registry of hospitalised COVID-19 patients across the country is being mooted to collect real time data which will help improve treatment outcomes, analyse trends in the progression of the pandemic and calibrate response, officials said.
The ICMR in collaboration with the Health Ministry and the AIIMS is planning to set up the National Clinical Registry which will help researchers and policy makers understand effectiveness of investigational therapies, adverse effects taking place and generate evidence for improving the treatment of COVID-19 patients.
"The aim is to collect data of the hospitalised COVID-19 patients like clinical and laboratory features, their demographics, comorbidities, treatment outcomes, complications in all age groups among others," officials said.
The novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 and the illness it is causing has so many unknown parameters that are a barrier to the proper understanding and management of the disease, they said.
"A systematically collected, comprehensive database covering different regions of the country will enable both researchers and policy makers to generate pertinent hypotheses, to inform crucial understanding of COVID 19, to detect trends in the progression of the pandemic and to accordingly calibrate response to the pandemic," an official said.
Fifteen institutions of national repute including the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh, AIIMS Delhi, AIIMS Jodhpur, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru and Armed Force Medical College in Pune will connect with the hospitals and medical colleges to get them on board.
These 15 institutions would be the registry sites and would be mentoring around 100 COVID-19 hospitals which would be called satellite centres from where the data would be collected as part of the exercise.
The proposal has been sent for approval to the Central Ethics Committee on Human Research (CECHR) of the ICMR.
"The data will help improve the clinical management protocols as the repository would help us know which drug is working better in which age group, effectiveness of investigational therapies and adverse effects taking place. The idea is to generate evidence for improving the treatment of COVID-19 patients," another official said.
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4 held for sexually assaulting woman, girl on moving bus after social media alert in UP's Agra
Agra (UP) (PTI): Four people were arrested, after a prompt response by police following a social media alert, for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman and a girl inside a moving bus here, officials said on Tuesday.
According to an official police statement, at 12:27 am on April 27, information was received on the social media platform X about an incident of sexual assault on a bus travelling from Kanpur to Ahmedabad, which was approaching Namner crossing in Agra.
Acting under the direction of Police Commissioner Deepak Kumar, the Agra Police social media team immediately alerted the Rakabganj police station within minutes and coordinated with the victims to confirm the incident and obtain the exact location, it stated.
Police teams launched intensive checking at Namner crossing and intercepted the bus as it reached the spot. The four accused involved in the incident were apprehended on the spot, and legal action was initiated against them, the statement said.
The police said the swift response and coordination between the social media team and field units ensured timely action, bringing relief to the victims and other passengers, who expressed gratitude towards the police, it added.
