Panaji, May 10 (PTI) All people above 18 years in Goa will be given Ivermectin drug irrespective of their coronavirus status to bring down mortality, state Health Minister Vishwajit Rane said on Monday.

He said patients will be given Ivermectin 12 mg for a period of five days as expert panels from the UK, Italy, Spain and Japan have found a statistically significant reduction in mortality, time to recovery and viral clearance in COVID-19 patients treated with this medicine.

"I have given instructions for immediate implementation of prophylaxis (action taken to prevent disease) treatment," Rane said.

The minister said this treatment would not prevent COVID-19 infection but it can help reduce the severity.

"The Ivermectin 12 mg tablet will be made available in all the district, sub-district, PHCs, CHCs, sub-health centres, rural dispensaries for people to collect and start treatment immediately, irrespective of any symptoms or anything," Rane said.

Goa on Monday recorded 2,804 new cases of coronavirus, taking its tally to 1,21,650, while 50 more fatalities pushed the toll to 1,729, a health official said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)