No proof ivermectin and hydroxy ‘regime’ led to COVID decline in India
"India’s Epidemic of False COVID-19 Information "Trump, Bolsonaro, and Modi, the third major leader to downplay the covid threat. See - Hindu Nationalists Are Pushing Magical Remedies for the Coronavirus "Trump and Modi are the mainstream faces of the global far right""
A reminder again that the responsible wearing of masks has been an important factor in the fight against covid in India.
By AAP FactCheck
June 8, 2021
The Statement
An Instagram post by an Australian user suggests that falling cases of COVID-19 in India are due to a regime of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin being used as treatments.
The post features a graph of Indian COVID-19 cases and deaths credited to Johns Hopkins University. The chart shows a steep rise in cases before a peak and gradual decline to 24 May.
“This is why India is no longer on the news and why we (in Australia) suddenly have cases,” the post claims. “India started a regime of hydroxychloriquine (sic) nd ivermectin and saw vax hesitancy rise and is looking to re-open ASAP.”
At the time of publication, the post had been liked nearly 500 times and shared more than 14,000 times.
A post suggests falling COVID cases in India are due to hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin.
The Analysis
While India’s COVID-19 cases have declined from their peak in early May, there is no evidence a “regime” of the drugs hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin are responsible for the fall.
The same period also reflects a time when strict regional health controls were in place in many parts of the country and tens of millions of vaccine doses were rolled out to combat a deadly second wave of the virus.
India’s COVID-19 case count began to rise sharply in mid-March, eventually reaching a peak of more than 400,000 daily diagnoses in early May, according to Johns Hopkins University data .. https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html .
Meanwhile, the drop in COVID-19 cases also coincides with the acceleration of the country’s vaccination program. According to Our World in Data .. https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations?country=IND , more than 140 million people had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by mid-May. The figure represents around 10 per cent of the population.
Both drugs have been frequently touted as possible COVID-19 treatments, however international health agencies (see here, here, here and here) have advised against their use citing a lack of evidence of their efficacy as well as potential side-effects.
The Indian Council of Medical Research had advised the use of the drug since as early as April that year, despite criticism from some experts ,, https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-30992030313-3/fulltext .. that the treatment was unproven in its effectiveness and could lead to “preventable morbidity and mortality”. By February 2021, the government had distributed more than 100 million hydroxychloroquine pills.
“These kind of ‘ecologic analyses’ (in the Instagram post) have been broadly used to support ivermectin,” he told AAP FactCheck in an email.
“The truth is that many other states/countries NOT deploying ivermectin have experienced a sharp descent in transmission, normally because of lockdown, awareness or other non-pharmacological measures.”
Dr Chaccour wrote that ivermectin has “been in the spotlight as an example of the risks of rushed and scientifically unfounded debates in the response to crises” such as COVID-19.
“There has been no change re: evidence, except even more trial results published that indicate neither make a difference in moderating disease outcomes in those with COVID-19,” she said in an email.
Prof Bennett said many factors came into play to reduce case numbers in a country, but it was “nonsensical” for such changes to be attributed to the two drugs.
Steven Tong .. https://medicine.unimelb.edu.au/engage/alumni/chiron/associate-professor-steven-tong , an infectious diseases physician and associate professor at the Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, agreed, telling AAP FactCheck via email: “There is no evidence to support the claim that hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin would lead to reduced case numbers. All the trials I am aware of have not demonstrated any beneficial effect of these two agents.”
People wait to be vaccinated against the coronavirus at Radha Soami Satsang Ground in New Delhi.
The Verdict
There is no evidence that new guidance on the use of ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine led to a reduction in COVID-19 cases in India. In fact, hydroxychloroquine was reported to be in widespread use well prior to the country’s second-wave outbreak.
Experts told AAP FactCheck the treatments had not been shown to be effective in combating the coronavirus. India’s reduction in cases also coincides with other public-health measures, such as the vaccine rollout and statewide lockdowns.
False – Content that has no basis in fact.
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