India reports a daily high of nearly 3 lakh covid cases on Wednesday. A total of 2,95,041 cases have been reported in the last 24 hours with 2,023 deaths.
This is the highest ever since the beginning of the pandemic.
Total active caseload: 2,157,538
Total vaccination: 13,01,19,310
Gilead’s Remdesivir has been suspended from the WHO list of medicines after several warnings against its use on Covid-19 patients.
Remdesivir has been peddled as potential anti-viral drug for the treatment of Covid-19 for months now as studies showed that it cut time to recovery and was authorized for use in more than 50 countries.
“Yes, we have suspended it from the PQ (prequalification list),” WHO media representative Tarik Jasarevic said in an emailed response to Reuters. “The suspension is a signal to countries that WHO, in compliance with the treatment guidelines, does not recommend countries procure the drug for Covid.”
Delhi is recording a high spike in Covid-19 cases and has reported 28,395 new cases in the last 24 hours.
Total cases: 9,05,541
Total discharges: 8,07,328
Active cases: 85,575
Death toll: 12,638
India’s government has granted Rs. 45.67 billion to Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech to boost production of Covid-19 vaccines amid quick spreading infections, said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Serum Institute of India has been approved Rs. 30 billion while Bharat Biotech has been granted Rs. 15 billion and the reports say that the payment will be released at the earliest.
PM Modi interacted with vaccine manufacturers of the country on Tuesday via video conferencing and requested them to continuously scale up the production capacity to vaccinate people in the shortest possible time.
ANI reported that the PM applauded the vaccine manufacturers for their achievements and professionalism and said the biggest strength of country’s vaccine industry is its ‘Samarthya, Sansadhan and Seva Bhaav’ and these attributes makes them a vaccine leader in the world.
He said that the government has now allowed the vaccinated programme for every adult starting May 1 believing in the ability of the vaccine manufacturers.
According to a PMO release, he also appreciated the efforts and studies bring conducted by scientists in development of new vaccines.
He said the government ensured that all the vaccine manufacturers not only get all possible help and logistics support, but also assured that all possible support and smooth approval process for the vaccine candidates which are currently under trial phase.
Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner KV Rajendra has warned private hospitals of medical negligence case if they refuse to admit COVID patients or transfer them to another facility without any valid reasons further seeking to deliver the test reports of COVID suspects within two days of collecting the samples.
Also the instructions have been given to private facilities regarding the number of beds and the charges incurred per COVID test.
Explaining the new directions at a Covid-19 management coordination meeting, Dr Rajendra stated that some of the private hospitals take too much time to give the report of COVID test, and often the test reports arrive after one week. Under such circumstances, there remains a high chance of transmission of the of the disease. Hence, he instructed the hospitals to ensure that COVID test reports are delivered within two days so that the patient can be immediately isolated as per the standard protocols.
He also suggested that 50 per cent of the beds in private hospitals should be reserved for COVID patients. He has also instructed the hospitals not to deny admission to any COVID patient and if any such case comes forth, medical negligence case can be lodged against the hospital.
Moreover, the hospitals are allowed to charge only upto Rs. 800 over per COVID 19 test. The price cap should be strictly followed and the hospitals are barred from incurring any additional amount for COVID testing.
Jubilant Pharma Limited has recently announced that it has successfully completed safety and pharmacokinetic/absorption studies in animals and healthy human volunteers in India using a novel oral drug formulation of Remdesivir in comparison to the commercially available injectable formulation of Remdesivir.
The company has sought authorization for additional studies for this novel oral formulation from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI).
The United States will soon have oral drugs for the treatment of the new coronavirus. Patients suffering from the new coronavirus will take the drug at home for 5 days, the new coronavirus will be completely eliminated from the body and the patient will fully recover.
The drug, translated as “Molnupiravir” was jointly developed by two major pharmaceutical companies, “Rigibel” in Germany and “Merck” in the United States, and has successfully completed the first and second phases of clinical trials in humans. The effect is 100%; the current phase 3 clinical trial is nearing the end and the effect is very good. If it goes well, it will be available in the market within 4 to 5 months.
The patient can take the drug by himself at home, and heal in 5 days, which is very convenient to use. Treating the new coronavirus in the future is like treating the common cold now. The new coronavirus is not terrible.
The drug was originally developed against influenza viruses. It is a compound, the principle is to prevent the virus ia enzyme, that is, to prevent the virus itself from replicating, so as to eliminate the virus quickly. The principle of the current anti-coronavirus vaccine is to target the flange of the new coronavirus, thereby preventing the combination of the new coronavirus and human cells. The principles of the two are different.
From March to April last year, a new coronavirus occurred in mink farms in the Netherlands and Norway, resulting in the massive death of millions of minks. The mink farm fed the mink with “Monapinavir” and found that there was no new coronavirus in the sick mink 24 hours later. The mink farm quickly stopped the spread of the new coronavirus. Then the two major pharmaceutical companies will carry out the first phase of clinical trials on humans. After success, they will conduct the second and third phases of clinical trials. So far, they will be officially launched.
This is a great achievement in the scientific community, especially in the medical community. Perhaps it will follow Valium, aspirin and penicillin, and Apin is the four classic drugs.
The National Medical Commission has recently issued an advisory to all the medical colleges regarding the conduct of MBBS examinations through a notification.
NMC has advised all medical colleges and universities to stick to the existing norms to conduct the final MBBS (Part 1 & Part 2) Theory and Practical, 2nd MBBS and Supplementary (1st and 2nd) MBBS examinations.
The directions are as follows: