New Delhi, April 8: India has sufficient stock of hydroxychloroquine available to meet the needs of the country that arise due to coronavirus pandemic, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Wednesday. During a press conference, Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry said that there will be no lack of hydroxychloroquine in India. "It is ensured that not only today even in future there will not be any lack of HCQ (Hydroxychloroquine) as and when needed", Aggarwal said. Hydroxychloroquine is an anti-malaria drug which is believed to work as a medicine for treating COVID-19 infected patients. The chemical formula of hydroxychloroquine is C18H26ClN3O. It is an old and inexpensive drug used to treat malaria.

India is the biggest manufacturer of hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malarial drug, which is believed to be a 'game-changer' in the fight against COVID-19. According to Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) secretary-general Sudarshan Jain, India manufactures 70 per cent of the world's supply of hydroxychloroquine. The announcement by the government that it has sufficient stock of HCQ  comes a day after India decided to export the drug to several COVID-19 affected countries in its commitment to the international community to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

Here's the tweet:

Giving details about the spread of coronavirus in India, the Health Ministry said that till date, 5194 positive confirmed case have been reported in the country while 402 people have been discharged. In last one day 773 positive cases were reported in India and the death toll due to COVID-19 jumped to 149. Of the total deaths, around 32 people died on April 7.

Maharashtra remained the worst hit state with a total number of positive cases rising to 1018, followed by Tamil Nadu which has 690 cases, according to the Health Ministry. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Wednesday informed that it has conducted 1,21,271 tests till date.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 08, 2020 04:43 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).