Mad rush for coronavirus drug in Dhaka

Within one hour of media report saying Dexamethasone was found to be first life-saving drug against Covid-19, people were seen purchasing the drug from different medicine stores in some parts of Dhaka on Tuesday evening.

In a visit to some medicine stores in capital's Dhanmandi area, the medicine was found out of stock within one hour. However, none was allowed to purchase more than one box. Even a drug store at Jigatola was selling not more than 20 pieces of tablets to a customer.

A salesman at Islam Pharma in Dhanmandi said, "Many people are coming to buy this drug after the news from the evening. We have already placed more order to the producer company for the medicine."

Dexamethasone, a cheap and widely used steroid, has become the first drug shown to be able to save lives among Covid-19 patients in what scientists hailed as a "major breakthrough".

Note: The drug has shown benefit only on severe Covid-19 patients, who needed respiratory or ventilator support in hospital. It should not be taken without proper advice from any doctor.

Trial results announced on Tuesday showed dexamethasone, which is used to reduce inflammation in other diseases such as arthritis, reduced death rates by around a third among the most severely ill of Covid-19 patients admitted to hospital, Reuters reported.

As of Tuesday, the death toll from deadly coronavirus reached 1,262 across the country. Besides, the total infections tally stood at 94,481.

Globally, the virus killed 440,523 people and infected 8,168,232 more till date.