AIIMS chief Dr Guleria suggests 3 steps to fight Covid effectively

New Delhi: The chief of India's premier medical science institute has recommended three key steps to battle the rampaging second wave of Covid-19: Creation of containment zones, banning of crowds, and boosting vaccination. All India Institute of Medical Sciences' (AIIMS) director Dr Randeep Guleria, speaking at the NDTV Solutions Summit today, said second waves of pandemics have always been more dangerous historically.

"We should have been more alert. We knew there are variants (of Covid-19) circulating in the world. It was only a matter of time until the strains are found in India...We got complacent," Dr Guleria said.

"We have to do 3-4 things: We must stop the infection from spreading. We must create a strict containment zone in the most affected areas with testing, tracking, and treatment. Secondly, we must ban crowding. Third, we must boost vaccination," he said. "Like how we earlier divided the country into red, green, orange zones, we must do that again. Get more beds and oxygen points."

The AIIMS chief's comments came a day after India reported a record 2.61 lakh new cases with 1,501 deaths.

"If we go back to the pandemic 100 years ago, the second wave was more dangerous. Even now, people started going out and now we are seeing a surge," he said.

Referring to the use of Remdisivir, a drug that is increasingly being seen to have key role in treating critical cases of Covid-19, Dr Guleria said it may reduce hospitalisation but won't help reduce mortality.

"Remdesivir is an antiviral drug and was developed for Ebola. The first paper in China showed it had no effect on Covid-19. Subsequently studies showed, it could reduce hospitalisation, but could nothing about mortality," the veteran doctor said.

Meanwhile, Mumbai police are likely to call the director a pharma company for one more round of questioning for allegedly stocking thousands of Remdesivir medicine vials, an official said on Sunday.

Rajesh Dokania, director of Bruck Pharma, a Daman-based pharmaceutical company that manufactures Remdesivir vials, was questioned on Saturday night, the police official said.

Police have said that they had information that the Remdesivir stock was going to be flown abroad by air cargo, despite a ban on the export of the drug.

"Dokania was questioned at the BKC police station," the official said, adding that the cops later allowed him to go, but asked him to remain present for inquiry whenever he is called.

"While the director of the pharma company was brought for questioning at the police station, a team of the Food and Drugs Administration was also present there," Mumbai police spokesperson S Chaitanya said in a statement on Sunday.

The commissioner and the joint commissioner of the FDA were also aware of the questioning, the statement said.