Coronavirus pandemic | Milind Deora tweets video of Mumbai's new retrofitted autorickshaw that will help fight COVID-19

Congress leader Milind Deora (Left)

Mumbai received a retrofitted autorickshaw on July 6 which will help in its fight against the coronavirus pandemic by bringing oxygen support to the doorstep of COVID-19 patients suffering from respiratory issues.

The van contains a stretcher for COVID-19 patients, a bench for healthcare workers, a first aid kit, an oxygen cylinder, and a humidifier. It is fitted with eight automatic sanitizer nozzles that would disinfectant the vehicle before and after each COVID-19 patient’s visit. It is additionally covered by a twin layer of tarp to ensure the driver’s safety.

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Congress leader Milind Deora took to Twitter to announce the introduction of the “Mobile COVID-19 Oxygen Response Van” in Mumbai and hoped it would help “decongest hospitals”.

Handing over these unique auto rickshaws to @mybmc shortly.

The retrofitted will visit Mumbai’s sprawling slums to dispense oxygen & conduct #COVID19 tests.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

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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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Supported by @GodrejGroup & designed by @Anantuniv, I hope the mobile units will help decongest city hospitals pic.twitter.com/oxgqMwwazS

— Milind Deora मिलिंद देवरा (@milinddeora) July 5, 2020

Notably, while the spread of the novel coronavirus disease has been brought under control in Mumbai, the financial capital of India still accounts for at least half of all the fresh cases reported from Maharashtra.

Maharashtra also continues to be the worst-hit state by the coronavirus pandemic in India and reports fresh COVID-19 cases by the thousands daily at present.

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