Mumbai, July 12 -- Amid complaints of scarcity of medicines, prescribed to treat COVID-19 patients, in Maharashtra and eventual black marketing of the same, the state government has tightened the rules on the sale of the drugs.

The government has made it compulsory for customers to show their Aadhaar card, COVID-19 test certificate, doctor's prescription and phone number to procure the key drugs.

With long queues being widely witnessed outside chemist shops in Maharashtra amid a steep rise in the number of cases, people are complaining that drugs remdesivir and tocilizumab are out of stock everywhere.

Remdesivir, an anti-viral drug, was cleared for "restricted emergency use" in India last month to treat severe COVID-19 patients.

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