'Best news so far': UK hails steroid treatment for coronavirus

 

A pharmacist displays a box of Dexamethasone at the Erasme Hospital amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Brussels, Belgium, June 16, 2020. REUTERS/Yves Herman

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's health minister on Wednesday hailed the use of a steroid called dexamethasone for treating coronavirus patients as the best news so far of the outbreak.

 

Trial results announced on Tuesday showed dexamethasone, which is used to reduce inflammation in other diseases such as arthritis, reduced death rates by around a third among the most severely ill COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital.

 

"It does increase your chances of survival quite significantly," Health Secretary Matt Hancock told Sky News. "It is one of the best pieces of news we've had through this whole crisis."

 

"It reduces your chances of dying when you are on a ventilator," Hancock said. "It is brilliant news for everybody."

 

He said the drug's potential had first been spotted in February and in March positive signals came so that the government began buying it up in April.

 

He said that the R-rate was below 1 in all regions but did not clarify if he was speaking about England or the entire United Kingdom.

 

Hancock also praised England soccer player Marcus Rashford - who he mistakenly called "Daniel Rashford" - for campaigning successfully to get the government to change course and provide school food vouchers for struggling families over the summer holidays.

 

"I’ve been called much worse over the last couple of days," Rashford said on Twitter in response to the minister's mistake.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-06-17

 

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Some good news out of the UK at last.

28 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

Hancock also praised England soccer player Marcus Rashford - who he mistakenly called "Daniel Rashford" - for campaigning successfully to get the government to change course and provide school food vouchers for struggling families over the summer holidays

Good on you Marcus. Maybe next time you could donate some of your overinflated weekly wages which the average man might take years to earn, rather than virtue signalling with other peoples' money ie tax payers' money.

The best news will be a  vaccine which will keep you from getting infected by the virus.  All the same this is good to hear as it will save lives. 

4 hours ago, katana said:

Good on you Marcus. Maybe next time you could donate some of your overinflated weekly wages which the average man might take years to earn, rather than virtue signalling with other peoples' money ie tax payers' money.

Hopefully the cost will be subtracted from the £14 billion overseas aid we donate to feeding the rest of the worlds children. 

8 minutes ago, twocatsmac said:

Hopefully the cost will be subtracted from the £14 billion overseas aid we donate to feeding the rest of the worlds children. 

£14 billion to feeding the world's children? Really? How did you come up with that number? The entire yearly foreign aid budge is about £14 billion. It's all spent on feeding children? Really?

5 minutes ago, johnpetersen said:

£14 billion to feeding the world's children? Really? How did you come up with that number? The entire yearly foreign aid budge is about £14 billion. It's all spent on feeding children? Really?

Yes, you’re right, some of the £14 billion goes to countries with space programs, so naturally some of it will be used for rocket fuel. 

(and in case you’re a juvenile, by space programs I don’t mean Star Trek etc).

11 hours ago, pegman said:

The best news will be a  vaccine which will keep you from getting infected by the virus.  All the same this is good to hear as it will save lives. 

This steroid treatment was proven by the UK Oxford University who are currently testing a vaccine on human trials .  Interesting read here   https://www.fiercepharma.com/manufacturing/astrazeneca-oxford-biomedica-agree-to-1-year-tie-up-to-produce-covid-19-vaccine

16 hours ago, katana said:

Good on you Marcus. Maybe next time you could donate some of your overinflated weekly wages which the average man might take years to earn, rather than virtue signalling with other peoples' money ie tax payers' money.

Some people are just mean spirited. The guy has achieved a great outcome for the less fortunate children in the UK.

 

Marcus Rashford teamed up with the poverty and food waste charity FareShare. The initiative saw over £20 million raised to provide food for children.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Rashford#Philanthropy

 

 

This is great news, BUT IMHO the more important news was that saliva testing has been proven to be more accurate than the current nasal & throat swabs in detecting the C19 virus.

It was sickening to see Boris and his incompetent sidekick of a Health Minister grandstanding over a drug which may end up saving a relative handful of lives at the tail-end of the pandemic. 

 

If they were truly interested in preserving life, they would have done more to protect the 16,000-plus care home residents who have died so far from the COVID 19 virus as a direct result of their disastrous pandemic strategy.

 

The government knew in advance, from the outbreaks in China and Italy, that old folk were the most at risk group. Yet they totally failed to ensure residential and nursing homes across the country had sufficient staff and medical equipment to keep the virus at bay. 

 

This amounts to gross negligence.

 

No less execrable was their decision to send elderly hospital patients back to care homes while still infected, turning them into super-spreaders and sparking a deadly second wave of sickness and deaths.

 

This is tantamount to manslaughter.

 

Instead of publicly celebrating a "breakthrough" for which they can claim no credit, this dumb duo should be hanging their heads in shame at the heartbreak their incompetence has heaped on so many mourning British families.

 

When the pandemic is over, there must be a a public inquiry into the Johnson government's incompetent and inhumane handling of its first - and hopefully last - major health crisis.

Edited June 18, 20206 yr by Krataiboy

14 hours ago, twocatsmac said:

Hopefully the cost will be subtracted from the £14 billion overseas aid we donate to feeding the rest of the worlds children. 

What a wonderful human being you must be.

Kindly research the facts before you blow your mouth (keyboard) off.

19 hours ago, katana said:

Good on you Marcus. Maybe next time you could donate some of your overinflated weekly wages which the average man might take years to earn, rather than virtue signalling with other peoples' money ie tax payers' money.

 

The young extremely rich Mr. Rashford is obviously a socialist. Spend other people's money!

This is old news ... Australia found this a week ago .......  lol

poms are too slow off the mark ...

2 hours ago, steven100 said:

This is old news ... Australia found this a week ago .......  lol

poms are too slow off the mark ...

As an Aussie, I wonder if you're confused with another medicine. I can't find any reference in Australian media about dexamethasone other than recognising the British study announcement this week. Maybe some docs have been using it in Aussie as well?

Well done Blighty.

Hopefully, Oxford and Astra Zeneca will hit the jackpot with a vaccine by September.

Mass production already underway on the hope it works.

 

3 hours ago, steven100 said:

This is old news ... Australia found this a week ago .......  lol

poms are too slow off the mark ...

I guess that's about as close to a thank you an Aussie will ever give a Brit.