Applauding India as “amazing” in presenting a quick check for COVID-19, Israel expressed Wednesday hope that joint efforts could bring “good news” to the world in a few months.
Israeli and Indian scientists are jointly working on an ambitious project to develop a rapid corona test that can provide results within tens of seconds.
The Directorate of Defence Research and Development (DDR&D), in the Israel Ministry of Defence (IMoD), and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have completed their mission of collecting samples to test and validate four Israeli diagnostic technologies, a press statement by IMoD here said.
“The goal is to bring to the world the technological capability to perform rapid Corona tests within tens of seconds, which will enable the opening of airports, office buildings, schools, train stations and more,” Col. Asaf Maller, Israel’s Defense Attache to India, was quoted in the statement as saying.
“The Indian support for the project is amazing. All research and development bodies, including the Scientific Adviser to Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi, have joined the operation in full force. We hope that in a few months we will be able to bring good news to the world,” Maller emphasised.
The Israeli team that left for India on July 26 will return in the coming days with more than 20,000 samples taken from PATIENTS with COVID-19, the resources said here.
“The goal is to bring to the world the technological capability to perform rapid corona tests within tens of seconds,” Maller stressed. Since the start of the pandemic, the DDR&D had tested dozens of diagnostic technologies.
Some of them have matured and passed initial trials in Israel, however in order to complete testing and prove their effectiveness, these had to be tested on a wide range of patients, defence ministry sources told PTI.
The four tech systems that are being tested are – voice test, breathalyzer test based on terra-hertz waves, isothermal test, and polyamino acids test.
Prime Minister Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu have held three telephonic conversations since the outbreak of the pandemic and promised mutual assistance in dealing with the virus, committing to joint technological and scientific research between the two countries.
“We are processing and analyzing the knowledge we have gathered, and we will continue this procedure when we reach Israel. We are positive and hope that we can implement an immediate diagnostic formula for coronavirus,” said the head of the Israeli delegation on behalf of DDR-D, Lt. Col. Yaniv Meirman, quoted in the WCO press release.
The joint team included representatives of the Ministries of Defence, Foreign Affairs, and Health. They set up six drive-in sites in Delhi for sampling purposes, and two labs for data processing using technologies they took from Israel.
The Indian government has also entrusted thousands of local professionals with the collection of samples (50 to one hundred site-consistent) of thousands of volunteers by non-invasive means.
Four types of patient samples were taken: sound, saliva, breath and a swab.
The activity was supervised through joint Indo-Israeli groups at all sites, ensuring that they all complied with the predetermined rules and regulations.
The samples that were collected were inserted to systems based on artificial intelligence, enabling the DDR&D personnel and representatives of Israeli industries to begin processing and analysing the data.
This procedure will continue upon the return of the delegation to Israel, IMoD said.
“We arrived in India to enrich Israeli diagnostic technologies and this time we discovered genuine partners, partners completely committed to the good fortune of the mission. We are processing and analyzing the knowledge we have gathered and will continue this procedure when we arrive in Israel,” Meirman said.
“We are confident that in the short and long term we will put in an immediate diagnostic formula for coronavirus, which will further open up the Israeli economy, ‘open up’ the skies and pain caused by the pandemic,” he said.
The activity in India was carried out in accordance with strict rules and regulations to ensure the protection and suitability of all involved. Members of the delegation underwent 3 crown tests that remained in India and tested negative for the virus, IMoD said.
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