Glen launches drug
NEW DELHI, June 20:
India today saw another record spike of 14,516 COVID-19 cases, pushing the total tally to 3,95,048, with over two lakh instances of the viral infection reported in June, according to Union Health Ministry data.
The death toll rose to 12,948 with 375 new fatalities, it stated.
In 24 hours 9,120 COVID-19 patients have been cured taking the number of recoveries to 2,13,830. There were 1,68,269 active cases in the country and one patient has migrated.
“Thus, around 54.13 per cent of the patients have recovered so far,” an official said. The total number of confirmed cases includes foreigners.
For the ninth day in a row coronavirus cases in the country swelled by over 10,000. From June 1 till June 20 the country recorded 2,04,513 instances of the disease with Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh being the top five States that have seen a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases.
In a significant development, the Mumbai-headquartered Glenmark Pharmaceuticals said it has launched antiviral drug favipiravir, under the brand name FabiFlu, for treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 cases at a price of about Rs 103 per tablet.
The drug will be available as a 200 mg tablet at a maximum retail price of Rs 3,500 for a strip of 34 tablets, the company said, adding FabiFlu is the first oral favipiravir-approved medication in India for the treatment of COVID-19.
It is a prescription-based medication, with recommended dose being 1,800 mg twice daily on day one, followed by 800 mg twice daily up to day 14, it added.
The tablets are being produced by the company at its Baddi facility in Himachal Pradesh. The drug will be available both through hospitals and the retail channel, Glenmark said.
Meanwhile, of the 375 new deaths reported till Friday morning, 142 were from Maharashtra, 66 from Delhi, 41 from Tamil Nadu, 27 from Gujarat, 23 from Uttar Pradesh, 11 from West Bengal, 10 each from Rajasthan, Karnataka and Haryana, nine each from Madhya Pradesh and Punjab, six from Bihar, four from Andhra Pradesh and three from Telangana.
India is the fourth worst-hit nation by the pandemic after the US, Brazil and Russia. According to Johns Hopkins University, which has been compiling COVID-19 data from all over the world, India is at the eighth position in terms of the death toll.
Of the total 12,948 deaths, Maharashtra accounted for the highest 5,893 fatalities followed by Delhi with 2,035 deaths, Gujarat with 1,618, Tamil Nadu with 666, West Bengal with 529, Madhya Pradesh with 495, Uttar Pradesh with 488, Rajasthan with 333 and Telangana with 198 deaths.
The COVID-19 death toll reached 144 in Haryana, 124 in Karnataka, 96 in Andhra Pradesh, 92 in Punjab, 50 in Bihar, 26 in Uttarakhand, 21 in Kerala and 11 in Odisha.
Jharkhand has registered 11 deaths, Chhattisgarh 10, Assam nine, Himachal Pradesh eight, Puducherry seven, Chandigarh six, while Meghalaya and Tripura have reported one fatality each, according to the Health Ministry.
More than 70 per cent deaths occurred due to comorbidities, the Ministry said.
The number of Government laboratories has been increased to 715 and private labs to 259, the Ministry said, adding the total number of swab samples tested thus far is 66,16,496, of which 1,89,869 were tested in the last 24 hours. (PTI)
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