Hanoi distributes more Covid antiviral pills to healthcare facilities

The pills were distributed for free.

The department has already distributed 52,000 molnupiravir pills last month for Covid-19 patients under treatment at home and in hospitals. But several patients still reported a shortage of the antiviral drug.

For the past week, the number of daily Covid-19 cases in Hanoi has been rising steadily, going from over 5,400 cases on Feb. 21 to 12,800 on Feb. 28. The number of patients receiving home treatment also nearly doubled within the same time span.

Tran Thi Nhi Ha, director of the Hanoi Health Department, said cases would continue to increase in the coming days, an inevitable outcome of society reopening following the Lunar New Year holiday.

Molnupiravir inhibits the replication of certain viruses by introducing errors in their viral RNA replication. It would result in "an accumulation of errors in the viral genome leading to inhibition of replication," also known as viral error catastrophe.

The drug reduces viral load in the early stages of Covid-19, reducing risks of severe symptoms and deaths.