Maharashtra To Use Anti-Malaria Drug HCQ To Prevent COVID-19: Minister

HCQ will be used as precautionary measure, Maharashtra minister Rajesh Tope said.

Maharashtra, the state with the highest number of coronavirus patients, will allow the use of anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine in parts of the state, including Dharavi – Asia's largest slum– as a precautionary measure against the disease. The announcement was made this evening by state health minister Rajesh Tope, but the areas apart from Dharavi were not specified.

Maharashtra altogether has 4,666 cases of COVID-19, roughly a third of the country's 17,656 cases. Mumbai has crossed the 3000 mark, of which 168 are from Dharavi.   

 "We will do 75,000 rapid tests soon as the Central government has given us conditional permission for it. We have also decided to use hydroxychloroquine as a precautionary measure in some areas, like Dharavi in Mumbai," state minister Rajesh Tope was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Over the last weeks, the anti-malarial drug has been much in demand, but its efficacy is yet to be proven.

Identifying it as a possible treatment for coronavirus, the US Food and Drug Administration is testing it on more than 1,500 coronavirus patients in New York, reports say.

Earlier this month, the Indian Council of Medical Research said hydroxychloroquine or HCQ should be used as prophylaxis to prevent the coronavirus and not as a treatment for COVID-19.

"Hydroxychloroquine is recommended only for a healthcare worker who is treating a COVID patient. Secondly, it's recommended only for persons staying and caring for a household positive patient. They can take that only for prophylaxis, only for prevention," said ICMR Director-General Balram Bhargava.

Raman R Ganagakhedkar, Head Scientist of ICMR, had said it was recommended as a phophylaxis as two medical trials conducted abroad did not give good results.

"We have decided that if it reduces the chances of COVID-19 among doctors and their contacts, then we will advise it to others. The results of the effect of HCQ in them are yet to come," he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Following demands from the US and other nations, India has decided to lift the ban on the export of the drug. Subsequently, a list of 55 nations was approved for the export of the drug.