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 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.
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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.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Kate Holton; editing by Michael Holden)
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