Odisha government to start favipiravir therapy for COVID-19 patients in home Isolation

Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], October 6 : The Odisha government has decided to start favipiravir therapy for COVID-19 patients getting treatment in home isolation.
The decision was taken after a high-level meeting held under the Chairmanship of Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy on Monday.
Chief Secretary has asked Odisha Health and Family Welfare Department to widely circulate the Standard Operating Protocol (SOP) on the use of oral favipiravir among the doctors and to train members of rapid response teams ( RRTs) properly for assessing the suitability of a patient in home isolation for the therapy.
Government Sources said, "As of now near about 80 per cent of COVID-19 positive patients are preferring home isolation."
Addressing the meeting Chief Secretary Tripathy said, "COVID-19 is an evolving crisis. The new clinical input and empirical evidence about the pandemic have proved the effectiveness of Favipiravir treatment as antiviral therapy. It will save the patients in home isolation from getting serious. Many doctors and virus experts have posted that medicine will be helpful in COVID management to a large extent".
Chief Secretary warned that the medicine needs to be "administered with proper advice and precaution and asked a team of experienced doctors to advise the patients in home isolation over audiovisual media about this therapy. The patients will take the therapy under the advice and guidance of physicians."
Additional Chief Secretary Pradeepta Mohapatra advised that the members of RRTs should properly explain the patient and his/her care giver or family member about use of oral favipiravir, its side effects, precautions and actions to be taken by them after initiation of the therapy.
The therapy would be started only after the well-informed consent of the patient. According to SOP, the RRTs would deliver medicine, detail information sheet, 'Dos and Don'ts' along with 'how and whom to report reactions/progress about patient's condition' at the doorstep of the patients in home isolation. On the event of any major adverse reactions, the RRTs would coordinate shifting of the patient to appropriate COVID care facility.
Favipiravir (Avigan) is an anti-flu drug developed by a subsidiary of the Japanese camera maker Fujifilm has shown encouraging results during its clinical trials conducted in China. Patients in China's Shenzen, who were administered this compound, came out negative after a median four days after being diagnosed with the novel coronavirus. While on the other hand, the patients who weren't given the medicine took a median of 11 days to recover.
The results were substantiated through chest scans which showed less lung damage in the people who took Favipiravir. It is not recommended for children and women, who are pregnant, suspected to be pregnant or breastfeeding, as it can cause harmful effects to the developing baby. Persons above the age of 60 years have been suggested to immediately consult doctors if they experience any side effects of the drug.