According to a study which suggests that the drugs were used to treat mild and moderate cases of the viral disease. The researchers at Washington University in the US estimated that COVID-19 likely contributed to 216.4 million excess doses of antibiotics and 38 million more doses of azithromycin in adults from June 2020 through September 2020, a period of peak COVID-19 activity in India.

Such misuse of drugs is considered inappropriate because antibiotics are only effective against bacterial infections, not viral infections such as Covid-19, the researchers said. Overuse of antibiotics increases the risk for drug-resistant infections, they said. "Antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest threats to global public health," said the study's senior author, Sumanth Gandra, an associate hospital epidemiologist at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in the US.  

"Overuse of antibiotics lessens their ability to effectively treat minor injuries and common infections such as pneumonia, which means that these conditions can become serious and deadly," Gandra said. The study, published in the journal PLOS Medicine, analysed monthly sales of all antibiotics in India's private health sector from January 2018 through December 2020.

The researchers statistically adjusted antibiotic use for seasonality and mandatory lockdown periods. They estimated that Covid-19 likely contributed to 216.4 million excess doses of antibiotics for adults and 38 million excess doses of azithromycin for adults from June 2020 through September 2020, a four-month period of peak Covid-19 activity in India. "Our results indicate that almost everybody who was diagnosed with Covid-19 received an antibiotic in India," Gandra said.

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