Researchers at Northwell Health in New York are testing the effects on Famotidine (used in high intravenous doses) on Covid-19 patients as a potential treatment. After the hospital announced its clinical trials, it led to a drug shortage in the US. Back home, however, there has not been any surge in the demand for Famotidine yet.
Except for laws pertaining to the payment of minimum wages, following safety norms and adequate compensation for workers in case of industrial accidents, no other provisions of the labour law would apply to all new companies that wish to operate in the state for at least 1,200 days, and for those that have already been operational for that period.
The hospital, in the commercial hub of Bandra-Kurla Complex, will serve as an isolation facility for non-critical COVID-19 patients. Expected to be ready in a fortnight, the new makeshift facility can be scaled up to 5,000 beds, if needed. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation will run the hospital that will have, among other things, oxygen facilities and pathological laboratories. Sohini Das reports.
Though exports to Hong Kong, a major destination for India's polished diamonds, have resumed, the industry is currently sitting on an inventory worth around $2.3 billion.
Although there is no government order to this effect, chemists decide to not dispense medicines for cold, cough and fever over the counter.
Diamond industry expects revenues to drop by 20-25% in the current financial year.
A dipstick survey covering 30 villages in Rajasthan threw up some worrisome numbers. About 250 children missed their regular vaccination schedule in March alone. These numbers are alarming, since India has around 600,000 villages according to the 2011 census. Sohini Das reports.
Mumbai, with an estimated population of nearly 20 million, has been testing 1,200-1,400 people per day. Delay in the delivery of rapid antibody test kits has forced the BMC to restrict its testing net.
Can Interferon alfa-2b treat COVID-19 effectively?
Cadila, Biocon developing rapid antibody testing kits; Eris, Mylan, Gland importing. There are two kinds of testing for the novel coronavirus - the real-time polymerase chain reaction test kit that uses throat or nasal swabs and provides results in a few hours, and the other is antibody-based rapid testing kit that use blood samples and provides results in a few minutes.
Private diagnostic laboratories have already approached the respective state governments and the municipalities where they are operating to approve protocols for such testing in clusters, reports Sohini Das.
With the government asking the companies to operate with only 50 per cent staff strength, and exports dipping to almost zero, the truck and bus drivers idling at the petrol pump say they hardly have any work now. At a petrol pump on the deserted Bavla-Changodar highway near Ahmedabad in Gujarat, several trucks and buses are neatly parked in a row.
Private hospitals, especially smaller standalone ones, are staring at a crisis that they were not prepared for. Analysts say larger corporate chains have to brace up for at least six months for business to return to normal.
What will happen to the job placement and summer internship plans of India's management and IIT students? Many campuses are stepping in to help students hang on to their placements, in spite of the lockdown.
A leading exporter said, there is enough stock of paracetamol in the country. At present, the US, which has become the epicentre of the COVID-19 outbreak, needs paracetamol. He further said India would lose its credibility as the "pharmacy of the world" if it adopts protectionist policies during such a crisis.
Cost of the diagnostic test for Covid-19 has been fixed at Rs 4,500 per test by the government. Hospitals, however, do not think this is feasible.
The ICMR has already approved a bunch of rapid test kits for launch. The health ministry admitted that clusters of COVID-19 had appeared in many states and the risk of further spread remains very high.
Edtech brands are offering discounts, adding fresh content and engaging more frequently with users during the lockdown, reports Vinay Umarji.
In the past one week alone, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Andhra Pradesh have issued orders to take over private hospitals in some districts. Sohini Das, Vinay Umarji and Gireesh Babu report.
The test used now, called PCR (or polymerace chain reaction), uses a nasal or throat swab sample and identifies the virus. These tests take at least five hours to give results. The rapid test, on the other hand, uses a blood sample and gives results based on detecting the presence of certain antibodies that react to the coronavirus protein.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances