Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday announced that the Institute of Advanced Virology in Thiruvananthapuram has gained membership to the prestigious Global Virus Network (GVN) - an international association of medical virologists.
This is the first institution in the country to get the prestigious GVN membership.This would give the institute access to GVN's researchers at 45 centres across 29 countries for detection and management of viral diseases apart from exchange of ideas and resource material," Pinarayi added.
Pinarayi also added that the state had received the preliminary go-ahead to conduct plasma treatment for COVID-19. "We are waiting for approvals from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Drugs Controller to begin the process," he added.
The Institute of Advanced Virology (IAV) located at the Kerala State Council for Science Technology and Environment (KSCSTE) Bio 360 Life Sciences park at Thonakkal in Thiruvananthapuram was established in 2019, months after Kerala witnessed and successfully contained the Nipah virus outbreak in the state. The institute was envisioned with most modern laboratories focussed on research, diagnosis and management of emerging and re-emerging infectious viral diseases.
The institute will begin functioning in June 2020. According to Pinarayi, the installation of laboratories, machines and equipments and appointment of scientists will be completed in March and April. Global Virus Network's co-founder and director Dr William Hall is the senior advisor at IAV.
The functioning of the institute has been conceived in two phases and the first phase will commence in June. A pre-fabricated building of 25,000 square feet has been built for this.
The Global Virus Network is an international coalition of medical virologists to help the international community by improving the detection and management of viral diseases. Global Virus Network is headquartered at the University of Maryland School of Medicine at Baltimore, Maryland in the United States.