UK makes major breakthrough in treating COVID-19

Tedros Adan Gebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), said that British doctors have found a drug that helps seriously ill patients cope with coronavirus. As reported on the WHO website, the tests that were conducted in Oxford showed that the steroid dexamethasone reduces mortality among patients on mechanical ventilators by 35 percent. The UK government has already approved the use of the drug to treat COVID-19. "This is the first treatment to be shown to reduce mortality in patients with COVID-19 requiring oxygen or ventilator support," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. "This is great news and I congratulate the Government of the UK, the University of Oxford, and the many hospitals and patients in the UK who have contributed to this lifesaving scientific breakthrough." British doctors in Oxford conducted trials administering a dexamethasone steroid to more than 2100 patients daily during ten days. At the end of the period, it was revealed out that the death rate among Covid-19 patients on ventilators was lower by 35 percent. In addition, the number of infected patients receiving oxygen was lower by 20 percent.