Medicines Remdesivir & Favipiravir will be available for all: Maharashtra Health Minister

Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope, on Thursday, has announced that anti-viral drugs Remdesivir and Favipiravir will be made available across all districts in the state in the next two days. Both the drugs have been considered to be effective in treating mild cases of COVID-19. The state Health Minister has also assured that the government is ensuring that the drugs are available to all and not just the rich and influential. The Health Minister had announced bulk procurement of the respective drugs by the state last week. 

"Both the medicines, Remdesivir and Favipiravir will be available in all the districts in coming 2 days and we are ensuring that it is not available for rich & influential people only. It will be available for all," ANI quoted Tope.

READ | Maharashtra Govt To Procure Large Supplies Of Remdesivir, Favipiravir

The Ministry of Health on Sunday, June 14, had approved the restricted emergency use of Remdesivir as per the newly updated Clinical Management Protocol for COVID-19. Listed as an investigational therapy along with Convalescent plasma and Tocilizumab, Remdesivir should be used only in a defined subgroup of patients.

The protocol also mentions that the use of these therapies is based on limited available evidence. Moreover, Remdesivir has still not received market authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA).  The dose has been prescribed as follows: 200 mg IV on day 1 followed by 100 mg IV daily for 5 days.

'No community transmission in Maharashtra'

Tope on Thursday also stated that there is no community transmission in Maharashtra yet even as the total number of cases near 2-lakh mark. He said people who have tested positive for Coronavirus were either under institutional quarantine, home quarantine or had some contact history with positive patients.

READ | Health Ministry Approves Emergency Use Of Remdesivir For 'moderate' COVID-19 Patients

Speaking of plasma therapy as a potential treatment for the virus, Tope said that the method is still very effective as the condition of nine out of ten patients has improved through this treatment. The Health Minister also said that Remdesivir and Favipiravir medicines for the treatment of COVID-19 patients will be available in all districts in the coming two days.

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Maharashtra death toll tops 8,000

With 5,537 fresh cases of COVID-19, Maharashtra on Wednesday reported its highest single-day count of the viral infection, taking a total number of confirmed coronavirus cases to 1,80,298. The death toll rose to 8,053 after 198 patients succumbed to the illness, of which 69 deaths occurred in the last 48 hours, and the rest 129 are from the previous period.

The state health department said the recovery rate in Maharashtra is 51.67 percent with 93,000 people being discharged from hospitals, while the case fatality rate is 4.47 percent. Currently, 6,08,660 people are under home quarantine and 38,396 people in institutional quarantine. Furthermore, out of 9,92,723 laboratory samples, 1,80,298 have been tested positive (18.16 percent) for COVID-19 until July 1.

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