Goa To Start Using Drug Shunned By US Regulator For Covid Treatment

While Ivermectin does not prevent infection, it reduces the severity of the illness, Goa Public Health Minister Vishwajit P Rane said today.

Goa has given the nod for the use of an anti-parasitic drug as preventive treatment for COVID-19. The drug, Ivermectin, has been disapproved of by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). While it does not prevent infection, it reduces the severity of the illness, Goa Public Health Minister Vishwajit P Rane said today. The treatment will be for those above 18 years of age, the minister said in a Facebook post. "In this, patients will be treated with Ivermectin 12mg for a period of five days. Expert panels from the UK, Italy, Spain and Japan, found a large, statistically significant reduction in mortality, time to recovery, and viral clearance in COVID-19 patients treated with Ivermectin," Mr Rane said in his post. "At the same time one should not have a false sense of security and complacency but strictly take all the precautionary measures and follow laid SOPs," he said.