Huge challenge

The WHO has announced that Remdesivir, the drug being used widely to treat COVID-19 and the only drug authorised in the US, does not reduce the mortality rates. It is also stated that the drug does not reduce the quantum of stay in the hospital after infection.

WHO had conducted a study among 11,000 people in 30 countries. It is now ten months that the COVID-19 pandemic wrecked the world. It is  a matter of global shame, that none of the Nobel Prize winners, intellectuals, research institutes, have even arrived at a definitive set of medicines to treat the infection. Nations have become experts in discovering weapons of mass destruction, like atomic bombs and nerve gases; but are miserable in finding a cure to COVID-19 or a vaccine to halt its aggressive advance.

Economies are expected to shrink by five to ten per cent and even more, due to the economic contraction triggered by COVID-19. Millions of people will be pushed below the poverty line income of USD two per day, in countries in Asia and Africa. These people will be unemployed and their children will not be able to go to school. So, COVID-19 will deal a severe blow to the health and prospects of the next generation also. Humanity and decency are decaying. So, leaders of various nations should focus on finding treatments and vaccines to fight COVID-19. All else can wait.

Rajendra Aneja — Mumbai