Officers from the specialized verticals of the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS), a programme of the US CDC will reach India soon. The main objective of these EIS officers also referred to as Disease Detectives is to carry out COVID-19 surveillance in India and advice the government on future action. The EIS arose from biological warfare concerns relating to the Korean War. What is of concern is that the CDC was banned by the Indian government in late 2019 for secretly funding bioweapons research in India.
CDC’s Disease Detectives in India
The Indian government is eagerly waiting for the arrival of these disease detectives who will work with their Indian counterpart, the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
“The main objective of the government is to slash the rate of new infections. For that to happen, we need to understand where and how infections are spreading, and why they aren’t spreading elsewhere.
Till now, the NCDC and other central health agencies have collated massive amounts of data from across the country. We are using that data to choke the spread of the virus and the US CDC team, with a good track record in that area, will be very useful,” a senior health official said.
These officials will sort through that data and review existing models of India for the spread of the pandemic infection.
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