New Delhi: A day after scientists in the UK claimed that Dexamethasone can prevent Covid-19 fatality, India doctors welcomed the development on Wednesday.
"It's a positive development. Dexamethasone is a generic steroid widely used in other diseases to reduce inflammation," said Dr Giridhar Gyani, director general of Association of Health Care Providers.
He further informed that India has used the drug earlier for lung infection-related issues and it is very cheap and easily available.
The apex medical research institute- Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), will now issue a new clinical protocol guideline by including Dexamethasone as a treatment for the infection.
In the clinical protocol issued last week, ICMR had suggested on the use of Remdesivir, Convalescent Plasma, Tocilizumab and Hydroxy-chloroquine as a treatment for Covid-19 patients.
"Dexamethasone works well. And it could decrease the fatality rate of Covid-19 patients," said Dr Gyani.
Scientists in the UK's Oxford University during the trial, gave Dexamethasone medicine to 2104 patients while 4312 patients were kept without the steroid. The trial found that Dexamethasone reduced deaths by up to one third in severely-ill patients.
However, Dr Gyani expressed confidence that a few Covid-19 drug in India have also shown some positive results.
Drugs like favipiravir, itolizumab, phytophatmacutical (a plant-based drug), microbactorium W, convalescent plasma, arbidol, ACQH, HCQ, Remdisivir and BCG vaccine are being repurposed and currently under various stages of trials in India.
In absence of any approved treatment for COVID-19, physicians and researchers across the country have shifted their focus to search for existing drugs.
Sources in ICMR said that anti-cancer drugs Imatinib is also under study for COVID-19. This has shown effectiveness in laboratories for disease such as MERS and SARS Corona.
Researchers in All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) said that Imatinib, by inhibiting ABL 1 protein, can have inhibitory activity in SARS-CoV-2 infection. It may be mentioned here that 30 groups in India have been trying to develop a vaccine for Covid-19.
Meanwhile, India's Covid-19 recovery rate as on Wednesday has jumped to 52.8 per cent.
Health Ministry statistics said that during the last 24 hours, 6922 Covid-19 patients have been cured taking the total number to 186934. There are currently 155227 patients under active medical supervision. As many as 6084256 samples have been tested through 924 Covid-19 laboratories.
Interestingly, Delhi and Maharashtra have included their previous Covid-19 casualties in the last 24 hours all India data to make it 2003. As per health ministry records, as many as 11903 people have died in India due to COVID-19 till date.
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