'Remdesivir not a magic bullet,' says AIIMS chief, suggests its use at 'right time'

Amid shortage, Director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Randeep Guleria on April 19, Monday, asserted that Remdesivir is not a 'magic bullet' and does not decrease the mortality rate. Highlighting that it is being used in the absence of anti-virals, he stated that it is important to use it at the right time.  

"In the last two years of COVID management, we have learnt that two things are most important-drugs and the timing of drugs. If you give them too early or too late, it will cause harm." Having said that, he came back to Remdesivir, and said, "We may use it as we don't have an anti-viral drug. It's of no use if given early to asymptomatic individuals/ones with mild symptoms. Also of no use, if given late." He further added, "Remdesivir should only be given to patients who are hospitalised, had fallen in oxygen saturation and have infiltrates on the chest X-ray or CT scan,". 

'No vaccine 100% efficient'

Earlier, during a briefing, Guleria addressed a number of issues, including vaccination. Pointing out that no vaccine prevents the infection, he said, "No vaccine is 100 per cent efficient. You may get the infection but the antibodies in your body will not allow the virus to multiply and you will not have severe disease." Having said that, he made it clear that it is impossible to predict till when the second wave of COVID-19 will continue. "It all depended on how quickly and efficiently the spread of the virus is contained," he said. This comes at a time when India is going through the second wave of COVID-19, reporting over 2 lakh fresh cases every day. 

Tally in India

Meanwhile, for the fifth day straight, India breached the 2 lakh mark with a record single-day rise of 2,73,810 fresh COVID-19 cases. Maharashtra, Delhi and Karnataka emerged as the major contributors of fresh cases, with 68,631, 25, 462 and 19,067 fresh cases respectively. With this, the cumulative count in the country has mounted to 1,50,61,919. The death toll has reached 1.78 lakh, with 1,619  deaths in the last 24 hours.  

(CREDITS-ANI/PTI)