A consortium of doctors and researchers from India, Brazil, Russia and South Africa will conduct a study on the epidemiological impact of the COVID-19 and tuberculosis pandemics in these countries, the Department of Science and Technology said on Wednesday.
Under this, joint research teams from these countries will explore the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the epidemiological characteristics of the tuberculosis (TB) infection, it said.
‘They will also search for mechanisms responsible for the interaction of these two processes,’ the Department of Science and Technology (DST) said in a statement.
The teams will find strategies to mitigate the negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and develop individual recommendations for each participating country, it said.
This will help them overcome the impact of epidemics of respiratory viral diseases on the epidemic of tuberculosis, the statement said.
Brazil, Russia, India, and South Africa, which are currently ranked second to fifth in the number of cases of COVID-19, belong to 24 countries recognised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) with the highest burden of tuberculosis, it said.