 "RIL seeks nod to bring in Israeli experts for Covid-related training")
Reliance Industries Limited has sought special permission to fly an Israeli team of experts to India to train and install a rapid COVID-19 identification solution it acquired from an Israeli start-up for USD 15 million.
The delegation from Breath of Health (BOH) has already received an emergency approval at Reliance's request given the spike in coronavirus related cases in India and will be flying out soon, company sources told PTI here.
Israel has put a temporary ban on its citizens from flying to seven countries, including India, which have seen a surge in coronavirus cases. The experts from the Israeli medical technology company will guide Reliance's team in India in operating the innovative system developed by it to identify coronavirus carriers and patients in the early stages of the disease by exhalation.
The results will be available within seconds.
Reliance Group signed a USD 15 million deal in January with BOH to distribute the firm's swift COVID-19 breath testing system.
According to the agreement, the Indian corporate giant will purchase hundreds of systems from the Israeli company in a deal valued at USD 15 million and will use them to conduct millions of tests a month at a cost of USD 10 million per month.
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BOH is said to have developed the breath test system that identifies COVID-19 at a success rate of over 95 per cent.
Preliminary results from clinical trials it is conducting with Israeli hospitals Hadassah Medical Center and the Sheba Medical Center at Tel HaShomer have shown a success rate of 98 per cent compared to the standard PCR test authorised by global medical organisations.
"The equipment has already reached India and its operationalisation will help India in its fight against the pandemic," a spokesperson for the company said.
Israeli Deputy Health Minister Yoav Kish visited BOH Laboratories in the northern Israeli city of Rehovot to closely monitor the preparations of the delegation that will leave for India to complete the installation of the first system that landed in India about a week ago.
The Minister himself went through an exhalation test and congratulated the BOH team on its achievements.
"The company staff will train Indian teams to use technology which is considered as a breakthrough in the field and may help the Indians to take control of the Indian variant outbreak", the Israeli company said.
"The aggravation of the corona crisis in India has led Reliance and the Israeli company to advance the flight of the Israeli delegation to India to help the Indian government overcome the outbreak of the plague that has so far claimed the lives of over 200,000 Indians and continues to spread across the country", it said.
A record 3,780 fresh COVID-19 fatalities were registered in a single day in India on Wednesday taking the death toll to 2,26,188, while 3,82,315 new coronavirus infections were recorded.
With the fresh cases, the total tally of COVID-19 cases in the country climbed to 2,06,65,148.
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