With the entire country facing a shortage of the drug Remdesivir — an important medicine needed in COVID-19 treatment — the civic body had paid almost double the price to procure it. With the BMC expected to receive around 2 lakh vials of the injection, the Divisional Commissioner of Pune has raised a demand for 20,000 vials and is ready to pay the civic body the same price at which it procured the medicine. The civic body has not decided if it will give the injections yet.

While the state reels under a shortage and after facing heavy criticism for acquiring it at a higher price, the BMC is not being approached by other districts to share some of the stock. While Mumbai has been recording 8,000 to 10,000 cases daily, the civic body is worried about the increasing cases. It acquired the huge stock anticipating this very rise in the spread of the virus.