Coronavirus India News LIVE Updates: Today is the 88th day of India’s nationwide lockdown, meant to curb the novel coronavirus pandemic. India is now among the five countries most affected by the outbreak, with a total of 380,532 infections and 12,573 deaths. The Supreme Court on June 19 took note of the differences in COVID-19 testing charges in various states and asked the Centre to decide on the issue, and said all states should set up a panel of experts to inspect hospitals to ensure proper care the patients. The top court bench observed during the hearing that there should be uniformity in COVID-19 testing charge in all states.

Drug firm Glenmark Pharmaceuticals on Saturday said it has launched antiviral drug Favipiravir, under the brand name FabiFlu, for the treatment of patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 at a price of about Rs 103 per tablet. The drug will be available as a 200 mg tablet at a maximum retail price (MRP) of Rs 3,500 for a strip of 34 tablets, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals said.

FabiFlu is the first oral favipiravir-approved medication in India for the treatment of COVID-19, it said in a statement. It is a prescription-based medication, with recommended dose being 1,800 mg twice daily on day one, followed by 800 mg twice daily up to day 14, it added. 

India on Saturday saw another record spike of 14,516 new COVID-19 cases in a single-day, pushing the tally to 3,95,048, while the death toll rose to 12,948 with 375 new fatalities, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

The number of recoveries continued to surge with 2,13,830 patients cured so far, while there are 1,68,269 active cases, according to the updated official figures at 8 am. One patient has migrated.

Globally, there have been over 86.39 lakh confirmed cases of COVID-19. At least 4.59 lakh people have died so far. The United States, Brazil, Russia, India and the United Kingdom are the most-affected countries.