Biocon Chief Kiran Mazumdar Shaw tests positive for coronavirus
What's the story
As India reels under coronavirus catastrophe, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, chairperson of Biocon Ltd., joined the long list of famous personalities to test positive for the highly-contagious disease. In a tweet last night, Shaw said that she had "added to the COVID count (sic)." Other prominent personalities to test positive from Karnataka are Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa and ex-CM Siddaramaiah. Here are more details.
Throwback
Just last month, Shaw had commented on immunization strategy
67-year-old Shaw is actively involved in India's COVID-19 struggle, regularly dishing out tips for the government to mitigate the impact. In July, she said the government needed to prepare an immunization strategy to make vaccines available when they arrive. She suggested administering a vaccine to at least "20% of the high-risk population," while also underscoring that it translated to 200-300 million people.
Details
Recently, Biocon got approval for COVID-19 drug
Moreover, merely a few weeks ago, Shaw's Biocon received an approval from Drug Controller General Of India to sell its Itolizumab drug for treating "moderate-to-severe" coronavirus symptoms. The drug Itolizumab, more widely known as ALZUMAb, was first launched in 2013 for treating chronic plaque psoriasis. Till July 13, 2020, around 150 people were said to have recovered from coronavirus, courtesy the aforementioned drug.
Statement
Shaw was also critical of Russia's vaccine claims
Shaw, one of the most successful businesspeople in India, recently questioned claims by a Russian company of having developed a COVID-19 vaccine. Gamaleya National Research Center has not released data from Phase-I or Phase-II human trials. As per PTI, Shaw said, "If launching a vaccine prior to completion of Phase-III trials is acceptable to Russia, well so be it."
Twitter Post
You can read her tweet here
I have added to the Covid count by testing positive. Mild symptoms n I hope it stays that way.
— Kiran Mazumdar Shaw (@kiranshaw) August 17, 2020
Recovery wishes
After her tweet, she was inundated with best wishes
Soon after her announcement, wishes poured for Shaw on Twitter. Congress leader Shashi Tharoor tweeted, "We need you hale and hearty soon!" Bengaluru, the city where Biocon is based, incidentally has the highest number of coronavirus cases in the entire state of Karnataka, with the Urban District having over 91,000 confirmed cases. Sadly, Karnataka's death toll has now crossed 4,000.