Question : Access to COVID-19 Data Collated by ICMR

(a) whether the Government has taken cognizance of the request made by scientists, appointed for tracking/ developing new prediction model for COVID-19 pandemic, for wider access to the granular COVID-19 testing data collated by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR);
(b) if so, the details thereof and the reasons for such data not being made available to the above scientists;
(c) the steps taken by the Government to make the ICMR database accessible to the scientists;
(d) whether the data is available in real-time; and
(e) if not, the average time taken between requesting access to the data and access being granted?

THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
DR. BHARATI PRAVIN PAWAR

(a) to (e): All testing data collated by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is accessible to National Informatics Centre (NIC), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt of India, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), National Health Authority (NHA), and States/UTs Government. ICMR has a well-defined protocol for “Access to COVID-19 Health and Scientific Data”. As per the protocol an Independent Data Access Committee objectively/systematically reviews data access request pertaining to COVID-19 data repository. Data is available on real time basis.
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