WATCH | Steroid hailed as 'breakthrough' Covid-19 drug: what you need to know

17 June 2020 - 16:13 By Deepa Kesa
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Dexamethasone has been hailed as a major breakthrough in Covid-19 treatment. The low-dose steroid treatment reportedly cuts the risk of death by a third for patients on ventilators and by a fifth for those on oxygen.

Preliminary results suggest that the drug should immediately become standard care in patients with severe cases of the disease, say researchers who led the trials.

They are working to publish the full details of the trial as soon as possible, after some scientists said they wished to review the evidence for themselves.

The drug has not been peer reviewed and there are no approved treatments or vaccines for Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus which has killed more than 439,000 people globally.


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