As India is troubled with fresh Covid wave, a drug and therapy bring hope

India's second wave is not slowing down as the country in the last 24 hours has recorded more than 332,000 coronavirus cases.

Yesterday, India set a world record in daily infections and today it has broken its own record.

India's total caseload has surpassed 16 million and of these 2.4 million are active cases.

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More than 83 per cent of people in India have recovered from the virus.

Since last year, over 186,00 people have died, which is 1.15 per cent of the total cases.

The second wave has brought with it a crisis on every front.

Hospitals are taking to social media to complain about oxygen shortages and there's a crunch of beds and medicines too.

As many as 12 countries have imposed restrictions on travellers from India.

These measures include tough quarantine measures and even a ban on flights.

The UK, US, Canada, France, Australia, the UAE, Singapore, Hong Kong, Israel, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia are the 12 countries that have put restrictions.

However, there are some positive developments too. Let's take a look.

India has now administered more than 130 million doses of vaccines with over 109 million people getting one dose and more than 17 million being fully vaccinated.

India will open up its vaccination programme on May 1 and that should dramatically scale up the numbers.

Indian regulators today gave a restricted emergency use approval to a new drug called Virafin, made by India's Cadila Healthcare.

Virafin is actually a hepatitis C drug, but trials show its effectiveness in treating the Wuhan virus too.

Reports say about 91 per cent of the patients treated with this drug tested negative within seven days.

It also reduced the need for oxygen support.

Meanwhile, a hospital in Rome has begun treating patients in a radically new way.

They are using monoclonal antibodies for treatment.

Usually, when we fall sick, our antibodies attack the virus and prevent it from spreading, and the vaccine does the same.

Now, monoclonal antibodies are substitute antibodies, basically, lab-produced molecules that can enhance or mimic an immune system's response.

This therapy has been rolled out in several countries, but it has not been used widely.

The Castelli Hospital in Rome believes that monoclonal antibodies can stop infected patients from becoming sicker.