Tally crossed the 2 lakh mark on November 1

During the period, the cases were dipping and several lockdown restrictions were removed

It took another five months for the city to cross the 3 lakh mark. On April 23, 2021, there were 3,01,541 cases in Chennai

By now, spread of the infection became rapid and the city added another one lakh cases in 18 days. On May 11, the city crossed 4 lakh cases to record 4,04,733 infection

Among the 15 city zones, Anna Nagar, Kodambakkam and Teynampet have the highest caseload with 52,473, 49,590 and 46,672 cases respectively

CHENNAI: Experts say that monoclonal antibody cocktail therapy can be useful in the initial stages of COVID infection to avoid virus replication. Doctors say that patients with comorbidities can benefit from the therapy by reducing the further risk of infection. Three private hospitals in Chennai have started the therapy.

Currently, the patients with mild and moderate infection, who are at high risk of witnessing a severity in the infection, are being given the Roche India’s antibody cocktail, including Casirivimab and Imdevimab.

Senior consultant oncologist at Kauvery Hospital, Dr Anitha Ramesh, said the antibodies for the therapy are lab-engineered to strengthen the immune system and fight the virus. It will help reduce virus replication at an early stage and reduce mortality, mainly in high-risk patients.

High-risk patients include those with obesity, diabetics, kidney diseases, cardiovascular diseases, on immunosuppressants, or chronic respiratory disease.

Dr RK Venkatasalam, Director Medical Services at Apollo Hospitals said that monoclonal antibodies bind to and neutralize the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The antibody cocktail can be administered for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 in adults and pediatric patients who are at high risk of developing severe symptoms.

Doctors say that the antibody cocktail must ideally be administered within 48-72 hours of a patient testing positive and before five to seven days. Patients getting the antibody cocktail therapy should be PCR positive, have comorbidities, should not be on oxygen therapy and should offer consent for the treatment. This treatment has been shown to reduce the risk of hospitalisation and fatality by around 70 per cent.

The drug received emergency use approval from the Central Drugs Standards Control Organisation based on the data filed with the US regulators as well as the scientific opinion of the European regulatory panel.

However, the State health department has not yet included the therapy treatment as part of the protocol at government hospitals.