NEW DELHI: As the number of COVID-19 cases crossed the three lakh-mark, the government on Saturday came out with a revised treatment protocol to deal with the deadly infection, allowing use of antiviral drug Remdesivir in moderate cases and Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) in patients during the early course of the disease.
It also recommended an off-label application of Tocilizumab, a drug that modifies the immune system or its functioning, and convalescent plasma for treating coronavirus-infected patients in moderate stage of the illness, besides adding loss of smell or taste to the list of COVID-19 symptoms.
In its revised ‘Clinical Management Protocols for COVID-19’, the Union health ministry, in a turnaround from its earlier decision, advised use of the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine in the early course of the disease, while dropping the use of azithromycin in combination with HCQ in severe cases and those requiring ICU management.
Ten days after recording 2 lakh COVID-19 cases, India surpassed the three lakh-mark on Saturday with the worst daily spike of 11,458 infections, while the death toll too climbed to 8,884 with 386 new fatalities, according to the Health Ministry. India took 64 days to cross the one lakh-mark from 100 cases, then in another fortnight it reached the grim milestone of two lakh cases. It has now become the fourth worst-hit nation with a caseload of 3,08,993. Only US, Brazil and Russia have more cases.
Hydroxychloroquine has demonstrated in-vitro activity against SARS-CoV2 and was shown to be clinically beneficial in several small single-centre studies though with significant limitations, the health ministry said.
“Nonetheless, several large observational studies with severe methodologic limitations have shown no effect on mortality or other clinically meaningful outcomes,” the revised document said.
The ministry said the use of Remdesivir, Tocilizumab and convalescent plasma therapy, at present, is based on limited available evidence. As the situation evolves and when more data become available, the evidence will be accordingly incorporated, and recommendation upgraded, it stated.
Meanwhile, the ministry’s data updated at 8 AM on Saturday showed active cases at 1,45,779 and those who have recovered at 1,54,329; one patient has migrated. “Thus, around 49.95 per cent patients have recovered so far,” a ministry official said. The total number of confirmed cases include foreigners. (PTI)
