Dr Shashank Joshi, a member of the state Covid task force, said people should stop panic-buying the drug. “The rush for the drug is unfounded. It has restrictions on use and should be given only during the first nine days. It s a drug that only reduces viral replication in the body. It does not have the potential to reduce mortality. No study of the drug, worldwide, has shown an ability to reduce mortality,” Dr Joshi said.
He added doctors may be prescribing the drug, which cuts hospital stay, to make more beds immediately available for more Covid patients.
A senior doctor, another member of the state Covid advisory group, said favipiravir is the only other antiviral being recommended besides remdesivir. However, favipiravir has better impact if administered during the first five to six days of Covid onset.
The city s third genome sequencing lab will come up at National Chemical Laboratory in Pashan
PUNE: The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has decided to step up genome sequencing of the coronavirus by setting up a laboratory at the city-based National Chemical Laboratory (NCL).
This will be the third such facility in the city, after the ones at National Institute of Virology and National Centre for Cell Science.
CSIR director-general Shekhar Mande on Sunday said NCL will get adequately trained staff as well as funding. Mande said the facility will help researchers gain insights into the different variants circulating in Maharashtra.
The blaze was doused in half-an-hour.
PUNE: A major fire broke in an old fruit and vegetable market in Pune early Tuesday morning, destroying at least 25 shops, fire brigade officials said. There was no report of any casualty, they said.
The fire broke out around 4am in the Shivaji Market, a popular establishment in the Cantonment area in Maharashtra, a fire official said.
At least 25 shops were gutted in the blaze, he said. After receiving a call about the fire, we sent nine water tankers there and the blaze was doused in half-an-hour, Pune Municipal Corporation s fire department chief Prashant Ranpise said.