What is dexamethasone? A drug that boosts Covid-19 survival chance

Low-cost, widely-used steroid dexamethasone is first to show life-saving promise

A cheap and widely used steroid called dexamethasone has become the first drug shown to be able to save lives among Covid-19 patients in what scientists said is a “major breakthrough” in the coronavirus pandemic. 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 of Covid-19 patients admitted to hospital.

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The preliminary results suggest the drug should immediately become standard care in patients with severe cases of the pandemic disease, said the researchers who led the trials. The researchers said they would work to publish the full details of the trial as soon as possible, with some scientists saying they wished to review the evidence for themselves. Britain’s health ministry wasted no time in acting on the findings, saying the drug had been approved for use in the state-run health service, export restrictions had been introduced, and Britain had stockpiled 200,000 courses of the treatment.

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Britain’s health ministry wasted no time in acting on the findings, saying the drug had been approved for use in the state-run health service, export restrictions had been introduced, and Britain had stockpiled 200,000 courses of the treatment…

Covid-19 crisis: Green shoots visible in the economy, PM Modi tells CMs

In a similar forum on Wednesday, he will meet CMs of some of the worst-hit states including Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh

On a day when India’s Covid-19 tally crossed 340,000 and the death toll hovered at around 10,000, Prime Minister Narendra Modi complimented the country for its recovery rate at over 50 per cent. Almost two weeks after the nationwide lockdown was relaxed, the PM in a virtual interaction with chief ministers of some 21 states and Union Territories said on Tuesday that green shoots of economic growth had started showing. In a similar forum on Wednesday, he will meet CMs of some of the worst-hit states including Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh.

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While warning against complacency, he said timely action had prevented a potential catastrophe but India was recovering rapidly. In his meeting with the CMs Punjab, Kerala, Goa, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, the Northeastern states and some UTs, the PM said the economy was fast reaching the levels where it was before the pandemic had hit India while referring to cooperative federalism in dealing with the Covid crisis.

Almost all offices (public and private) were open, people were returning to work and the streets were busy with commuters, he pointed out. In a reminder of what it took to save a large part of the population from the infection, the PM told the chief ministers that discipline of washing hands frequently and using masks needed to continue…Read More