Left, Right & Centre

AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria says there are a number of trials going on with the drug remdesivir to see if it can be used in treatment of COVID-19. On plasma therapy, which involves injecting patients with rich antibodies of those who have recovered, Dr Guleria said plasma therapy has been used for multiple diseases including ebola. "The basic philosophy is that if an individual gets COVID-19 and recovers from it, he recovers by his own body's antibodies that are able to fight the virus. It means the antibodies stay in his blood. Once he's fully recovered, we will be able to extract the plasma and give it to a patient for helping in recovery," Dr Guleria said. "If this trend continues, if the curve remains flat, then gradually the number of cases will decrease. You may still have a few hotspots... A lot depends on how things behave in the next five to seven days," he said. "The last few days suggest we have stabilised the number of cases. If we are able to sustain this over the next five days or so, I will have confidence in saying we have achieved significant amount of success in not having a sharp spike," he added.

Dr. Naushad Forbes, the Co-Chairman of Forbes Marshall, says that an economic package is missing for the weaker sections of the society amid the coronavirus pandemic. "The unwinding of the lockdown on 20th is very welcome. Manufacturing is largely being permitted to start and this is a welcomed step. What's missing is an economic package for the weaker section of the society," he says.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren speaks to NDTV on the migrant crisis during the nationwide lockdown implemented to fight the spread of coronavirus. "All chief ministers unanimously wanted the lockdown to be extended although I think the decision to take the first lockdown was a very abrupt one and if they had given 2 days of gap period, everyone could have gone to their homes. When the lockdown will be lifted, our problems will increase and there will be a lot of panic because a lot of workers are still stuck in different parts of the country," Hemant Soren said.

When will we have a vaccine for coronavirus? The World Health Organisation has said that three vaccine candidates are in a clinical testing phase and an R&D blueprint for the vaccine has been activated. Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has said that plasma trials for COVID-19 will begin shortly in Delhi to help critically ill coronavirus patients. On the show, we speak to Saad Omer, Director of the Yale Institute for Global Health, Dr Guido Vanham, Belgian Virologist and Dr Rommel Tickoo, Associate Director, Internal Medicine of Max Healthcare to understand this hunt for a vaccine to combat COVID-19.

Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram welcomed the new lockdown guidelines and said this is the time to forget about growth and boost the economy by providing more financial relief. He said that PM Modi should enact a law to protect the jobs and salaries of people to stop wide scale retrenchments.

Karnataka has emerged as one of the most successful states in the battle against COVID-19. Karnataka's minister for medical education, Dr Sudhakar K tells NDTV, the 4T strategy that the state has adopted to fight coronavirus.

P Sainath Founding Editor of The People's Archive and India's top rural affairs expert tells NDTV that it seems governments are simply not willing to feed people, as they think it may set a deadly precedent on feeding people, but if they don't make an announcement now that they will distribute food where people are, the next "clanging and banging of pots will signal food riots, not solidarity."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today extended till May 3 the current lockdown to control the spread of coronavirus in India and said the restrictions could be reviewed for the least affected parts of the country on April 20. But can the country afford a prolonged lockdown? We discuss on the show tonight.

What is the criterion for an area to be declared a coronavirus hotspot? Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia tells NDTV how the state government is containing the spread of the novel coronavirus. He said that the government had anticipated the increase in numbers, but this is limited to certain areas and is under control.

Kerala Finance Minister Issac Thomas tells NDTV's Nidhi Razdan that there was no choice but to extend the nationwide lockdown. He also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not drawn a lesson from the last three weeks as testing is still not adequate. Speaking on how to further deal with the pandemic and ensure compliance of the lockdown he said compliance will decrease if we don't take care of migrants and special attention must be given to what each state wants.