Israeli and Indian scientists plan to work together to develop a coronavirus test that will provide results within minutes, the Israeli Embassy in India stated on Monday.
The proposed testing system would be based on artificial intelligence and big data technology, embassy spokeswoman Avigail Spira said.
The goal of tests with rapid results is to enable people “to go back to their routine as much as possible considering coronavirus will be with us for a while,” Spira explained.
“The idea is for each side to bring its strengths and work together on development,” Spira said.
Sunday’s talks “about high-level scientific cooperation between India and Israel,” as the Israeli Embassy in India tweeted, took place between principal scientific adviser to the Government of India K. VijayRaghavan, representatives of India’s National Center for Biological Sciences, the research and development arm of India’s Department of Defense and India’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, along with Israeli Defense Ministry Directorate of Defense Research and Development (Maf’at) chief Danny Gold.
Spira said there is “no higher level” in Israel and India for discussions on scientific matters. Gold is well-known as the leader of the team that developed the Iron Dome rocket defense system.
The talks about the rapid-results tests are still in a preliminary stage.
In another tweet, the embassy said that the cooperation on this matter is “part of the vision of [Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] and [Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi] for wide-ranging scientific cooperation between India and Israel.”
Also Monday, a flight with dozens of Israelis aboard took off from New Delhi to Israel, after the Israeli Embassy in India’s coordination efforts.
In light of the lockdown in India to prevent the spread of coronavirus, the embassy and consulate had to arrange special permission for Israelis, who had been stuck in India for two months, to travel to New Delhi from eight different cities.