The Uttar Pradesh government has issued a government order for use of new drug to treat COVID-19 patients. Ivermectin, tipped as a drug effective against coronavirus will be used in UP instead of Hydroxychloroquine. Ivermectin will be administered to COVID-19 patients under supervision of a doctor. Pregnent ladies will not be given the tablet.

What is Ivermectin?
* Ivermectin is an inhibitor of the COVID-19 causative virus (SARS-CoV-2) in vitro.
* A single treatment able to effect ~5000-fold reduction in virus at 48 h in cell culture.
* Ivermectin is FDA-approved for parasitic infections, and therefore has a potential for repurposing.
* Ivermectin is widely available, due to its inclusion on the WHO model list of essential medicines.
* Although several clinical trials are now underway to test possible therapies, the worldwide response to the COVID-19 outbreak has been largely limited to monitoring/containment. We report here that Ivermectin, an FDA-approved anti-parasitic previously shown to have broad-spectrum anti-viral activity in vitro, is an inhibitor of the causative virus (SARS-CoV-2), with a single addition to Vero-hSLAM cells 2 h post infection with SARS-CoV-2 able to effect ~5000-fold reduction in viral RNA at 48 h. * Ivermectin therefore warrants further investigation for possible benefits in humans.