Coronavirus Lockdown | Need to open aviation sector in calibrated manner: Hardeep Singh Puri

On the current status of the aviation sector in India, he said: “Challenges that airlines are facing are from the pre-COVID period. We all know that the aviation sector has suffered a lot.”

Moneycontrol News

May 06, 2020 / 17:39 IST

In an exclusive interview to CNN-News 18, Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said the aviation sector in India will be opened in a "gradual and calibrated manner".

Throwing light on the evacuation process of Indian citizens stranded abroad, Puri said: "We are open to the idea of involving private carriers if the situation arises."

India plans to bring back 15,000 Indians stranded in more than 10 countries, over seven days in 64 flights. The evacuation will begin on May 7. On an average, about 2,000 Indians will be flown back each of the days.

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Those coming back to India will be required to fill a self reporting form to declare if they have any COVID-19 symptoms, as well as register the Aarogya Setu app on reaching their destination.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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