The World Health Organization said
it was moving to update its guidelines on treating people
stricken with Covid-19 to reflect results of a clinical trial
that showed a cheap, common steroid can help save critically ill
patients.
Trial results announced on Tuesday showed dexamethasone,
used since the 1960s to reduce inflammation in diseases such as
arthritis, cut death rates by around a third among the most
severely ill Covid-19 patients admitted to hospital.
The WHO's clinical guidance for treating patients infected
with the new coronavirus is aimed at doctors and other medical
professionals and seeks to use the latest data to inform
clinicians on how best to tackle all phases of the disease, from
screening to discharge.
Although the dexamethasone study's results are preliminary,
the researchers behind the project said it suggests the drug
should immediately become standard care in severely stricken
patients.
For patients on ventilators, the treatment was shown to
reduce mortality by about one third, and for patients requiring
only oxygen, mortality was cut by about one fifth, according to
preliminary findings shared with WHO.
The benefit was only seen in patients seriously ill with
Covid-19 and was not observed in patients with milder disease.
The positive news comes as coronavirus infections
accelerated in some places including the United States and as
Beijing cancelled scores of flights to help contain a fresh
outbreak in China's capital.
"This is the first treatment to be shown to reduce mortality
in patients with Covid-19 requiring oxygen or ventilator
support," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said
in a statement late on Tuesday. The agency said it was looking
forward to the full data analysis of the study in coming days.
"WHO will coordinate a meta-analysis to increase our overall
understanding of this intervention. WHO clinical guidance will
be updated to reflect how and when the drug should be used in
Covid-19," the agency added.