South African Health Minister Zweli Mkhize on Monday joined British scientists in hailing a steroid drug, dexamethasone, as a “breakthrough” coronavirus treatment that has proved to be capable of saving lives.
The scientists have been conducting drug tests in a programme called Recovery Trial from their base at Oxford University in the United Kingdom where on Tuesday they announced results from the drug’s trials.
According to Mkhize, the therapeutic merits of low dose dexamethasone “are extremely promising and easily implementable” in South Africa, apart from the drug being readily available and affordable as well.
“Dexamethasone is a well-known and widely used steroid, which has potent anti-inflammatory properties,” the minister said.
He added: “It is used in allergic reactions, asthma and other conditions where the inflammatory component of the disease needs to be controlled for better outcomes.”
The World Health Organisation (WHO) welcomed the initial clinical trial as well, saying it was looking forward to studying the full data analysis of the UK trials in the coming days.
“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,” the UN agency said.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “This is the first treatment to be shown to reduce mortality in patients with Covid-19 requiring oxygen or ventilator support.
“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.”
Meanwhile, South Africa’s coronavirus have reached 76,334 cases, with 1,625 people having died from the disease so far, the minister said.
NM/jn/APA