Heena Sharma Blog

  Ganga Ram hospital Chairperson Dr DS Rana on Tuesday said that Remdesivir is also being considered to be dropped from COVID-19 treatment soon as there is no evidence of its effectiveness in treating COVID-19 patients. This move comes after, the use of convalescent plasma has been dropped from the recommended treatment protocols for COVID -19, according to advisory from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). While talking to ANI, Ganga Ram hospital Chairperson Dr DS Rana said, "In plasma therapy, we give a pre-forwarded antibody to someone who has been infected before, so that the antibody can fight with the virus. Antibodies usually form when the coronavirus attacks. We have seen in the last one year that giving plasma does not make any difference in the condition of the patient and other people. Also, it is not easily available. Plasma therapy was started on a scientific basis and has been discontinued on the basis of evidence." Read More

  Amid the record rise in COVID-19 cases in India, medical assistance is continuing to pour in from countries around the world, including the US, Singapore and Australia. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) informed that 81000 vials of Remdesivir from the US arrived early on Wednesday morning in Mumbai. "Further elevating the India and United States Strategic Partnership. Appreciate the shipment of over 81,000 vials of Remdesivir from the US that arrived early this morning in Mumbai (India)," MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in a tweet. Besides the US, 3,650 oxygen cylinders and 8 ISO tanks are on their way from Singapore. "3,650 oxygen cylinders, 8 ISO tanks and much more-tremendous effort by Indian community and well-wishers of India to mobilise COVID-relief assistance from Singapore," High Commission in Singapore tweeted. Read More

  Coronavirus vaccine update : The month of December has kicked-off with a good news - Today, the United Kingdom became the first country to approve a vaccine against coronavirus , which has killed 1,487,701 people across the globe and has infected over 64 million. UK's approval of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine has paved the way for mass vaccinations, which will begin from next week. The vaccine claims to offer up to 95 per cent protection against corona. Other than Pfizer, Moderna vaccine candidate is said to be 94.5% effective at preventing Covid and is likely to be approved for emergency rollout in the US in few days. Meanwhile, India's 'Covaxin', Oxford-Astrazeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Russia's Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccones have shown promising result at different stages of trial. Read More

  The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Centre to issue directions for banning use of disinfectants and ultra violet rays on humans for COVID-19 management. A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan asked the government to do the needful in this regard within a month. The bench passed the verdict on a plea seeking directions to the Centre to forthwith ban the installation, production and advertisement of disinfection tunnels involving spraying or fumigation of chemical disinfectants on humans. On September 7, the apex court had asked the Centre why it has not banned the use of tunnels for disinfecting people for COVID-19 despite taking the stand that spraying of chemical disinfectants is physically and psychologically harmful. Read More

  India's COVID-19 tally climbed to 83.64 lakh with 50,210 new cases in a day, while 77,11,809 people have recuperated so far pushing the national recovery rate to 92.20 per cent, according to the Union Health Ministry data on Thursday. The total coronavirus cases mounted to 83,64,086 and the death toll climbed to 1,24,315, with the virus claiming 704 lives in a span of 24 hours in the country, the data updated at 8 am showed. The COVID-19 case fatality rate was recorded at 1.49 per cent. There are 5,27,962 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which comprises 6.31 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated. According to the ICMR, a cumulative total of 11,42,08,384 samples have been tested up to November 4, with 12,09,425 samples being tested on Wednesday. Read More  

  Researchers have found that a subset of COVID-19 patients who recover faster have a persistent antibody response against the novel coronavirus, an advance which sheds more light on the functioning of the immune system and may aid in the development of vaccines against the disease. The scientists, including those from Brigham and Women's Hospital in the US, examined patients who had recovered from mild to moderate COVID-19 and found that while antibodies against the virus declined in most people over time, some individuals sustained their production several months following infection. According to the researchers, previous studies had provided conflicting accounts about whether people recovering quickly from the viral infection can sustain potentially-protective antibodies or not. Read More

  The novel coronavirus is accumulating genetic mutations, one of which may have made it more contagious, according to a study involving more than 5,000 COVID-19 patients in the US. The research, published in the journal mBIO, however, did not find that these mutations have made the virus deadlier or changed clinical outcomes. The researchers noted that the mutation, called D614G, is located in the spike protein that pries open our cells for viral entry. "The virus is mutating due to a combination of neutral drift -- which just means random genetic changes that don't help or hurt the virus -- and pressure from our immune systems," said Ilya Finkelstein, associate professor at The University of Texas at Austin, US. The researchers noted that during the initial wave of the pandemic, 71 per cent of the novel coronaviruses identified in patients in Houston had this mutation. Read More

  Scientists at MIT have designed a novel face mask that can not only filter out the SARS-CoV-2 virus , which causes COVID-19 , but also inactivate it using heat. The new mask incorporates a heated copper mesh and does not need to be decontaminated or thrown away after use, according to the researchers. As the person wearing the mask breathes in and out, air flows repeatedly across the mesh, and any viral particles in the air are slowed and inactivated by the mesh and high temperatures, the researchers said. Such a mask could be useful for healthcare professionals, as well as members of the public in situations where social distancing would be difficult to achieve, such as a crowded bus, they said. "This is a completely new mask concept in that it doesn't primarily block the virus. It actually lets the virus go through the mask, but slows and inactivates it," said Michael Strano, a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US. Read More

India's drug regulator has granted US pharma giant Gilead Sciences marketing authorisation for its anti-viral drug remdesivir for "restricted emergency use" on hospitalised Covid-19 patients in view of the crisis posed by the pandemic. The approval process for remdesivir was accelerated in view of the emergency situation and the unmet need for medicines in light of the coronavirus outbreak, a source in the know of the developments told PTI. The drug has been allowed for restricted emergency use for treatment of suspected or laboratory-confirmed cases of Covid-19 in adults and children hospitalised with severe symptoms, subject to several safeguards, the source said. Read More