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photo : BBC

A cheap and widely available drug can help save the lives of patients seriously ill with coronavirus. The low-dose steroid treatment dexamethasone is a major breakthrough in the fight against the deadly virus, UK experts say. The drug is part of the world's biggest trial testing existing treatmentsto see if they also work for coronavirus. It cut the risk of death by a third for patients on ventilators. For those on oxygen, it cut deaths by a fifth. Had the drug had been used to treat patients in the UK from the start of the pandemic, up to 5,000 lives could have been saved. During a press conference held on Tuesday (16/06/20), UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson stated his pride on UK research team that has found the effective drug to reduce death on covid-19 patients.

"I’m proud of these British scientist backed by UK government funding who let the first rebus clinical trial anywhere in the world to find a coronavirus treatment proven to reduce the risk of death. And I’m very great full to the thousands of patients in this country who volunteered to the trial, thank you. This drugs dexamethasone can now be made available across the NHS and we’ve taken steps to ensured that we have enough supply even on the event of a second peak" Prime Ministr Johnson said. 

The UK government has 200,000 courses of the drug in its stockpile and says the NHS will make dexamethasone available to patients. About 19 out of 20 patients with coronavirus recover without being admitted to hospital. The drug is already used to reduce inflammation in a range of other conditions, including arthritis, asthma and some skin conditions. Peter Horby, professor of emerging infectious diseases and global health at the University of Oxford said that the drug give extraordinary effect on the patients with ventilators.

"So in ventilated patients with covid-19 the drug dexamethasone so 10 days of treatment without using a tablet or injection reduce the risk of death by 35 percent. In patients on the ward who required oxygen and have covid, it reduces the risk of death by 20 percent. That covers 75 percent of patients in the hospitals who save mortality benefit from using this drugs. There’s another group of patients who don’t require oxygen but have covid and we do not see a benefit in those patients so it’s not a drug that you use in the community or in patients with no breathing difficulties. But in patients with breathing difficulties who require oxygen or ventilators it realy showing a quite significant effect" Professor Horby explain. 

Professor Horby added that this is the only drug so far that has been shown to reduce mortality - and it reduces it significantly. It's a major breakthrough. The Recovery Trial, running since March, also looked at the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, which has subsequently been ditched amid concerns it increases fatalities and heart problems. The antiviral drug remdesivir, meanwhile, which appears to shorten recovery time for people with coronavirus, is already being made available on the United Kingdom National Health Service//NK

photo : mediacorp cna

Singapore exited a two-month-long "circuit breaker" designed to limit the spread of COVID-19 on Jun 1. The multi-ministry task force said at the time that Singapore would reopen in three phases, outlining what might be allowed under each phase. On Monday (15/06/20), speaking at a press conference, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said that the Phase 2 will involve the resumption of “most activities”, subject to safe distancing principles. 

"I had to explain that phase 2 actually is a process, it’s not an end stage. As we progress in phase 2 we will continuously monitored the situation and when situation allows we will continue ease the restriction. And eventually when we reach phase 3, basically phase 3 is a steady stage. By that time we are probably will hold that position for quite a long time until when vaccine is available" Minister Gan said. 

Minister Gan added that in Phase 2, the authorities’ goal is to ensure that efforts taken during the circuit breaker period and Phase 1 of reopening are sustained. Co-chair of the multi-ministry task force, Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong said that Phase 2 should not be treated as a signal that "we can relax, we can all let our guard down". Phase 2 will last for months until the situation is stable.

"And then again over time we will increase the capacity limits as we continuing the monitor and see the situation remaining stable. So we expect this process of review, monitoring, easing. Hopefully easing because you never now along the way we may have to slow down or tighten some restriction but we expect this process to continue for months before we reach phase 3" minister Wong explain

Minister Wong added that by Phase 3, social, cultural, religious and business gatherings or events should be able to resume, although gathering sizes would still have to be limited in order to prevent large clusters from arising. At the time, the authorities said that reaching the next phase could take multiple steps, depending on how the situation evolves//NK

photo : unhcr

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has partnered up with the World Food Program (WFP) to provide about 10,000 Libyan-based refugees with emergency food kits in a move to step up humanitarian assistance for food security amid the pandemic, the agency said in a statement on Tuesday (June 16). Refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced persons in Libya depend heavily on wage work and many can only buy food based on the day. According to the UNHCR, after the Libyan government had imposed curfews and food prices skyrocketed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, many of these people were unable to find any daily work to support themselves.  According to the UNHCR, the pilot batch of food kits was distributed among some 2,000 refugees at the agency's registration center in Tripoli on Monday. The humanitarian initiative will last through the end of the year//sputnik

photo : BBC

Spain is considering imposing a quarantine on visitors from Britain when it re-opens its borders next week, Spain's Foreign Minister said, in response to a similar policy introduced last week for travelers to Britain. Arancha Gonzalez Laya told the BBC she hoped Britain would lift its restriction, making a reciprocal Spanish one unnecessary. Britain, with more than 41,000 documented coronavirus-linked deaths, and Spain, with more than 27,000, have been two of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic. Both, along with other European countries, are in the process of easing lockdown restrictions that have included border closures.  Spanish officials gave no mention of any quarantine curbs on Sunday, when the government moved forward the date for allowing European visitors back into the country to June 21 from July 1//JP