‘Supernatural’ Spoilers: COVID-19 Nixed Chances of Familiar Faces Returning in Finale?

While the ongoing pandemic COVID-19 has affected the storyline of almost all of the TV series, “Supernatural” star Jensen Ackles and co-showrunner Andrew Dabbs have made it clear that the end finale is pretty much the same, though there are some changes, which can’t be avoided.

The long-running CW series “Supernatural” was supposed to wrap up in May, 2020, with the finale date being May 17, 2020, but with the nationwide lockdown, the show had to wrap up, with seven more episodes yet to be filmed.

It has been reported that with all the filming restrictions, the show’s finale will remain the same, though there will be changes in how the Winchester brothers will reach that point.

“I read through the original draft [of the finale] when it first came out just as a fan, because I was like, ‘How did they put it together?’ I knew the end result but I didn’t know how exactly they were going to get there, so I quickly read through the script,” Jensen Ackles told EW.

“That was back in early March. And then I put it down. Then COVID hit and we all went on break and I was like, okay well I assume it’s going to change so I’ll just wait until the new draft comes out. To be honest, it didn’t really change. How we got there involved a little bit of changing but we still get to the same place,” he added.

Andrew Dabbs said “We did a rewrite once we knew what our COVID rules were going to be for episodes 19 and 20, and it changed some things, it did. Particularly in episode 20, there were things planned that just aren’t feasible anymore.”

Among these changes, is the return of a lot of familiar faces in the finale episode, which will not happen now. The initial storyline called for the familiar faces to come back, to be able to celebrate together, however, that part got nixed, due to the COVID-19 safety precautions.

Earlier last week, Ackles told Glamour that “We were supposed to have a lot of familiar faces come back, and we were going to try to filter them into a montage. It was going to be almost a break from the story and a look at how far we’ve come—a little tip of the hat to the fans—and we would all be able to celebrate together. Obviously, we couldn’t do that. So that part of the finale episode got nixed.”

Still, Ackles as well as Dabbs have insisted that there will not be any changes in the story or the emotions or anything that fans have grown to love.

The “Supernatural” series finale is all set to air on November 19, 2020.         

North Korea Declares Emergency After First Possible COVID-19 Case; City of Kaesong In Full Lockdown

North Korea has declared state of emergency, after its first ever suspicion of COVID-19, in the city of Kaesong, near the border with South Korea.

A defector, who is now in quarantine, is being suspected to have the infection, as the test result of the case is “uncertain.”

Immediately the North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un, has enacted the country’s maximum emergency system, along with the full lockdown in the city of Kaesong, warning officials to “face up to the reality.”

As per the reports from the North Korea’s state media KCNA, the individual suspected to have been infected with COVID-19 was a runaway, who has gone to South Korea nearly three years ago, and has crossed back to North Korea, illegally on July 19.

It’s not clear if the individual has had the official coronavirus test, as the reports only state that several medical checkups show respiratory symptoms similar to COVID-19 cases.

KCNA reports “uncertain result was made from several medical checkups of the secretion of that person’s upper respiratory organ and blood.” The officials have also started the investigation of close contacts of the individual.

Kim Jong-un is said to have noted the situation to be a very critical and dangerous situation which might lead to the deadly and destructive disaster.

If confirmed, this marks the first time, the supreme leader has officially acknowledged Coronavirus infection in North Korea. Before this, North Korea has constantly claimed to have no COVID-19 cases in the territory, which was severely questioned by medical experts.

The country has already received thousands of coronavirus testing kits from Russia and other countries, and was under strict border closures in the past few months. People were also under quarantine restrictions, as a precautionary measure, which was recently eased.

However, The South Korea’s health authorities have made it clear that there was no evidence of the defector, referred to only as “Kim,” having contracted the illness.

“The person is neither registered as a Covid-19 patient nor classified as a person who came in contact with virus patients,” said Yoon Tae-ho, a senior health official, according to Yonhap news agency, as reported by The Guardian.

The KCDC – Korean Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that two people who was in close contact with the defector have been tested negative.

Ramdev: Patanjali’s ‘Coronil’ – 100 % Recovery From COVID-19; To Be Available for Rs 545 For 30 Days

Patanjali Ayurved has announced the launch of Coronil, the Ayurvedic medicine to cure COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus, at the Patanjali Yogpeeth in Haridwar, Uttarakhand.

Yoga Guru Ramdev has claimed that the medicine has shown “100 per cent recovery rate within 3-7 days,” in COVID-19 patients.

“The whole country and the world was waiting for medicine or vaccine for corona. We are proud to announce that the first Ayurvedic, clinically controlled trial based evidence and research-based medicine has been prepared by the combined efforts of Patanjali Research Centre and NIMS,” said Ramdev at the press conference, as reported by HindustanTimes.

Patanjali’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Acharya Balkrishna revealed that “Coronil” has been able to cure the patients in a 5 – 14 days period. He said that since the COVID-19 outbreak, a team of Patanjali’s scientists have been working on the cure. In the clinical case study conducted by the company, hundreds of positive patients have recovered within the said period after taking Coronil, and have been tested negative.

Proud launch of first and foremost evidence-based ayurvedic medicine for #corona contagion, #SWASARI_VATI, #CORONIL, is scheduled for tomorrow at 12 noon from #Patanjali Yogpeeth Haridwar🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/K7uU38Kuzl

— Acharya Balkrishna (@Ach_Balkrishna) June 22, 2020

Earlier this month, it was announced that the company has found a cure for COVID-19 and has been working on it. The company has been performing controlled clinical trials, the datas and evidence of which, will be released shortly. Yoga guru Ramdev has repeatedly underlined that the company has received the necessary approvals for conducting the trials of medicine on patients from competent authorities.

Balkrishna went on to make it clear that the medicine “Coronil” was not an immunity booster, but a cure for the novel coronavirus infection. He also added that minerals have been used with herbs to make Coronil even more effective.

The Corona kit will be made available at just Rs 545. As of now, the medicine is not available anywhere, and will be available at Patanjali stores in a week. The company is also working on an app, which will be launched by this week, for the delivery of the Corona kit.

First Ever Oral COVID-19 Drug Launched By Glenmark

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, on June 20, 2020, has launched the first oral Favipiravir-approved medication for the treatment of COVID-19, under the brand name of FabiFlu.

The drug firm has launched the antiviral drug, after receiving manufacturing and marketing approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on Friday.

“This approval comes at a time when cases in India are spiraling like never before, putting a tremendous pressure on our healthcare system,” Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Chairman and Managing Director Glenn Saldanha said, as reported by Hindustan Times.

The chairman went on to explain that FabiFlu can be used to treat patients with mild to moderate Covid-19. The drug has demonstrated an encouraging response of improvement up to 88 percent during clinical trials. As per the reports, the drug has proved to provide rapid reduction rate in viral load within four days, and faster symptomatic and radio-logical improvement.

FabiFlu will be available as a prescription-based medication for Rs 103/tablet, with recommended dose being 1,800 mg twice on day one, followed by 800 mg twice daily up to day 14. The drug can also be used to treat coronavirus patients with conditions such as diabetes and heart disease. With the launch of FabiFlu, the company hopes to offer the patients, a timely therapy and much needed option, in comparison to other intravenously administered medications.

Saldanha has assured that the company is working very closely with the Government and medical community, to have the FabiFlu accessible as early as possible to patients across the country. The company has been conducting various clinical trials, since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. Last month, the drug firm announced another clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of two antivirals Favipiravir and Umifenovir as a combination therapy in moderate hospitalised adult Covid-19 patients in India.