Synopsis
Justice Prathiba M Singh made the Health Ministry and the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) a party in the matter and asked their lawyers to come with instructions on why there was a scarcity of the drug in Delhi.
AFP
During the pre-noon hearing, the central government told the court that the drug can only be administered in a hospital setting and therefore, how were people getting it from pharmacies.
The Delhi High Court Tuesday asked the Centre and AAP government as to why there was Remdesivir drug scarcity in the national capital when the medication was being widely prescribed for COVID-19 patients whose numbers have surged hugely in the past few days. On being told by the Centre that Remdesivir can only be administered at hospitals, the high court observed that when oxygen and beds were not available in hospitals for coronavirus patients, then how will they get the drug.
This is a continuation of the phase-2 trials to see if the booster dose triggers the long-term memory cells or plasma cells enough to memorise the immunity and give lifelong immunity to the system.
CHENNAI: Seven people got a third booster dose of Covaxin on Monday at SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre (SRM MCHRC), six months after they received the second dose, as part of a study to find out if it gives immunity for a longer period.
A total of 190 people will receive the booster dose in eight different sites including New Delhi, Patna and Hyderabad. Some 20 to 25 people will receive the shot at SRM.
Synopsis
The directions came on a plea by a lawyer who is suffering from COVID-19 and was able to get only three out of the six doses of Remdesivir required by him. The court directed the Delhi government, represented by additional standing counsel Anuj Aggarwal, to ensure the petitioner gets the remaining three vials of the medicine by 9 pm tonight.
Reuters
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday said that millions of vials of Remdesivir, used in treatment of COVID-19, may have been exported by India, but its own citizenry was suffering due to acute shortage of the drug .
Justice Prathiba M Singh said several companies in India were manufacturing the medicine and millions of vials of the drug must have been exported, but we do not have enough to cater to our own patients .
Patients at a temporary converted isolation ward for Covid-19 patients near LNJP Hospital, New Delhi.
NEW DELHI: In the second wave of Covid-19 this year, the older population continues to be more vulnerable whereas only a marginal increase has been recorded in the number of younger people testing positive for coronavirus, said Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) director-general, Dr Balram Bhargava on Monday.
Nearly six months after the arrival of the first wave, coronavirus cases in India once again started rising in the first week of March signalling the arrival of the second wave of the pandemic in the country.