UK Govt approves dexamethasone for treating Coronavirus-hit patients: Health Ministry

"Thousands of lives will be saved in the UK with the government immediately authorising the NHS (the National Health Service) to use the world’s first coronavirus treatment proven to reduce the risk of death," the Health Ministry said in a statement.

Dexamethasone, an anti-inflammatory drug, has been immediately approved to treat all UK hospitalised COVID-19 patients requiring oxygen, including those on ventilators, from today, it added.

The drug has been proven to reduce the risk of death significantly in COVID-19 patients on ventilation by as much as 35 per cent and patients on oxygen by 20 per cent, reducing the total 28-day mortality rate by 17 per cent, according to the Ministry.

The UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson hailed the successful trial during his press conference.

“Today, there is genuine cause to celebrate a remarkable British scientific achievement, and the benefits it will bring, not just in this country but around the world," the Guardian quoted him as saying.

"This drug, dexamethasone, can now be made available across the NHS, and we’ve taken steps to ensure we have enough supplies, even in the event of a second peak," he added.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) also welcomed the preliminary results about dexamethasone use in treating critically ill COVID-19 patients.

"This is the first treatment to be shown to reduce mortality in patients with COVID-19 requiring oxygen or ventilator support," Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said in a statement.

"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," Ghebreyesus added.

According to the WHO, initial insights about the results of the trial were shared with them by the researchers and they were looking forward to the full data analysis in the coming days.