Timely Order On Proactive Usage Of Ivermectin Helped Us Maintain Lower Positivity And Fatality Rates: UP Govt

The Yogi Adityanath-led UP government claims to be the first state to have initiated a large-scale ‘prophylactic and therapeutic’ use of the Ivermectin drug, which has helped it to sustain low positivity and fatality rates amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, Indian Express has reported.

The state administration had kicked off a protocol to use Ivermectin and Doxycycline for both prophylactic and treatment purposes after Agra emerged as a cluster of Covid-19 cases in April and May last year.

The UP government passed an order on 6 August, 2020 that directed the use of Ivermectin as prophylaxis for the close contacts of health workers and Covid-19 positive patients. It was also administered for the treatment of the infected individuals.

“Uttar Pradesh was the first state in the country to introduce large-scale prophylactic and therapeutic use of Ivermectin. In May-June 2020, a team at Agra, led by Dr Anshul Pareek, administered Ivermectin to all RRT team members in the district on an experimental basis,” state surveillance officer Vikssendu Agrawal was quoted in an Indian Express report.

He added, “It was observed that none of them developed Covid-19 despite being in daily contact with patients who had tested positive for the virus.”

Agrawal also said that UP has the largest population base and a high density of the same but still managed to maintain low positivity rate and cases per million owing to the timely introduction of the usage of Ivermectin.

The state health department will also carry out a study to substantiate the emerging evidence of the consumption of the concerned drug once the second wave of the pandemic recedes.