New Delhi, Aug 30 (IANS): Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) Chairman Dr G. Satheesh Reddy on Monday briefed Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu about the various products and equipment developed indigenously by DRDO labs for treatment and management of the ongoing Covid pandemic.

A total of 25 scientists and technicians from the Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences (DIPAS), along with its Director Dr Rajeev Varshney, and the DRDO chief were invited to the official residence of the Vice President for the briefing.

Interacting with the scientists, Naidu commended the contribution of scientists and the front-line workers from the DIPAS in the fight against the pandemic and advised them to intensify their research to effectively combat any such pandemic in the future.

Noting that the pandemic has triggered unprecedented health crisis and severely impacted lives and livelihoods across the world, he lauded the contribution of DIPAS and other DRDO labs for rising to the occasion but said that it is important to be ever vigilant to effectively tackle any future threats in the wake of the emerging new SARS-CoV-2 variants.

The DRDO has evolved as strong scientific organisation during the pandemic to help the nation come out of the health crisis. It has been tracking the spread of coronavirus since the beginning, and took a call to enhance efforts to create counter-measures to stop the spread of the disease in India. It also started focusing on creating mass supply solutions of critical medical requirements.

Its developed many products for combating the pandemic, delivering some of the best makeshift hospitals, developing an antibody detection kit, and also came up with a quick and effective design for a low-cost ventilator, among others.