AP COVID TALLY PAST 5K, VITAL DRUG RUNS OUT

AP reported 8,368 new cases of

Covid-19, taking the tally past the five lakh mark. The state now has registered 5,06,493 cases, and the toll stands at

4,487.

While this is so, AP is facing a short supply of life-saving

Covid-19 drug Tocilizumab given to critically-ill Covidinfected patients for helping them recover from the infection.

Currently, AP has 5.06 lakh

Covid-19 patients of whom 4.04 lakh patients have recovered but 97,932 of the infected are undergoing treatment at various Coronavirus hospitals in the state. On an average, 70 to

80 Covid-19 patients are dying every day in the state.

At present, a good number of patients are surviving after getting a six vial course of Remdesivir injection, which the state government is providing free of cost at its Coronavirus hospitals in various parts of the state. Early start of Remdesivir saves many lives.

Doctors say in some cases, when the condition of patients is very critical, they prefer to give them Tocilizumab on a trial-and-error basis, as there is no clinically proven treatment for Covid-19 infection so far. Lucky patients are surviving after being given the injection.

Though Tocilizumab is in general used for treating autoimmune disease like rheumatoid arthritis, the Drug Controller General of India has recommended its restricted usage on a case-by-case basis to help save lives of

Covid-19 patients who are severely ill.

However, there is shortage of Tocilizumab in some of the districts, threatening the lives of patients who are in desperate need of this injection. For instance, health authorities in West Godavari district maintain that they have no stock of Tocilizumab and as such, they are using Remdesivir injection for critically ill patients. So is the case in other districts like Prakasam, where no stock of Tocilizumab is available.