The deadly Coronavirus has claimed over 24,000 lives and affected around 530,000 people worldwide. In what is heartening news, over 122,000 patients have reported to have recovered.

India Today reports that the total number of COVID-19 cases in India has crossed the 730 mark with the death toll standing at 17. On Thursday, India saw its highest rise in the novel coronavirus cases at 88.

On Friday (i.e. today) Kerala reported 11 new cases, taking the state tally to 137, making it the state with the highest number of cases so far. Maharashtra follows with 130 cases with six new cases being reported in the state today.

Karnataka has reported 55 new cases while Telangana and Gujarat have reported 45 and 43 cases respectively.

Jammu and Kashmir has also reported its first Covid-19 fatality.

In the wake of all this, another issue plaguing medical health professionals is the lack of enough medical equipment. Such is the shortage that doctors in Italy are having to decide who gets to live and who gets to die. According to media reports, India banned the export of ventilators, sanitizers and other ICU equipment with immediate effect on Tuesday. A Noida-based startup called AgVa Healthcare has built a cost-effective portable ventilator.

“We are working to manufacture 20,000 units in the next 30 days,” Diwakar Vaish, co-founder, AgVa Healthcare told ET Digital.

According to their website, the ventilator runs on room air without the need of compressed medical air and can deliver 100 per cent FiO2 when connected to Oxygen Source.

“The device is priced between Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2 lakh. Meanwhile, the traditional ventilator costs somewhere between Rs 4-5 lakh, therefore, our device costs nearly one-fifth of the existing ventilators in the hospitals,” said Vaish who worked on along with a team from AIIMS.





