Coronavirus India lockdown Day 109 live updates | In Delhi, 15-20% tested developed antibodies against virus, say officials

A novel coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine will take at least 12 months to be commercially available and a realistic deadline for it would be some time next year, a group of government officials informed the Parliamentary Panel on Science and Technology headed by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh at a meeting held in the Parliament House complex on Friday.

India’s drug regulator has approved Itolizumab, a drug used to cure skin ailment psoriasis for “restricted emergency use” to treat COVID-19 patients with moderate to severe acute respiratory distress, officials told PTI on Friday.

Somani, approved monoclonal antibody injection Itolizumab, an already approved drug of Biocon, for restricted emergency use for the treatment of ‘cytokine’ release syndrome in moderate to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome patients due to COVID-19, they said.

“It is already an approved drug of Biocon for treating psoriasis for last many years,” the official said.

Written informed consent of each patient is required before the use of this drug, he said.

Bengali film actor Koel Mallick on Friday tested positive for COVID-19, along with her parents and husband Nishpal Singh Rane who is a film producer.

Koel said in a tweet, “Baba Ma Rane & I are tested COVID-19 Positive...self quarantined!”.

The Kolkata Police on Friday requested the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) to make use of under galleries for makeshift quarantine facility for police personnel on an urgent basis.

There was an emergent meeting held at the Kolkata Police Headquarters in Lalbazar with CAB senior officials and it was followed by a joint inspection at the Eden Gardens.

The arrangement agreed between Kolkata Police and CAB would ensure that areas used for cricket and administrative activities remain unaffected,” Dalmiya said.

Though Gurugram has the highest recovery rate of 83% nationwide, the positivity rate, which is the number of samples testing positive per hundred, is almost double the national average, Chief Medical Officer Virender Yadav said on Friday.

The State government on Friday modified its earlier orders and allowed 50% staff in IT/ITeS firms located within Chennai police limits to work on their company premises.

West Bengal on Friday recorded yet another highest single-day spike of 1,198 COVID-19 cases.

Twenty-six deaths were recorded in the past 24 hours.

Of the 26 deaths, 13 were recorded in Kolkata, six in North 24 Parganas and four in Howrah.

With a staggering single-day high of 7,862 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, Maharashtra’s total case tally reached 2,38,461