COVID-19 patients who took the antiviral remdesivir recovered about 30 percent faster than those on a placebo, the results of a major clinical trial showed Wednesday, as the top US epidemiologist hailed the drug’s “clear-cut” benefit.
READ: US says remdesivir shows 'clear-cut' effect in treating coronavirus
The finding represents the first time any medication has been shown to improve outcomes against the COVID-19 illness, which has claimed more than 220,000 lives globally and ground the world economy to a halt.
The US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which oversaw the trial, said that patients on the drug made by Gilead Sciences had a 31 percent faster time to recovery than those on a placebo.
READ: 4 drugs for use in PH cure tests
For Anthony Fauci, who leads the NIAID and has been one of the government’s point people during the crisis, said “the data shows that remdesivir has a clear-cut, significant, positive effect in diminishing the time to recovery.”
Coronavac in China
A researcher in a lab coat in Beijing holds up the hopes of humanity in his fingers: “Coronavac,” an experimental vaccine against the coronavirus that has upended the world.
Sinovac Biotech, which is conducting one of the four clinical trials that have been authorized in China, has claimed great progress in its research and promising results among monkeys.
While human trials have just started, the company says it is ready to make 100 million doses per year to combat the virus.
READ: World roundup: Human trial for anti-COVID vaccine begins
Sinovac has published results showing that its vaccine has “largely protected” macaques from infection in an animal trial but its findings have yet to be peer-reviewed by the global scientific community.
Thousands of shots of the vaccine, which is based on an inactivated pathogen, have already been produced and packaged in a white and orange case emblazoned with the name “Coronavac.”
Rare complication
Children have largely been spared the worst of COVID-19, but there may be a rare complication–an inflammatory syndrome that one doctor described as causing patients to feel like “every blood vessel in the body is on fire.”
Britain’s National Health Service first sounded the alarm over the weekend, warning about a small rise in children infected with the coronavirus that have “overlapping features of toxic shock syndrome and atypical Kawasaki disease.”
“All of the pediatricians and critical care medics are working together to see whether it’s connected to COVID-19,” France’s health minister Olivier Veran said Wednesday. AFP
Reports of autoimmune complications arising across Europe and the United States highlight the need for parents to be vigilant, doctors say, even as much more research is needed to definitively tie the virus to these symptoms.
SoKor leads virus success
South Korea, once one of the hardest-hit countries in the coronavirus pandemic, reported no new cases on Thursday, boosting hopes of an eventual return to normality as US scientists hailed the results of a major drug trial.
For the first time since the new disease was detected there in mid-February, South Korea reported zero new infections.
The East Asian nation had the world’s second-largest coronavirus outbreak for a period after the virus emerged in China late last year.
But with an aggressive test-and-trace strategy and widespread social distancing, it has managed to bring the spread of the pathogen under control.
“This is the strength of South Korea and its people,” said President Moon Jae-in as he announced the milestone.
Extended state of emergency
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is likely to extend a nationwide state of emergency imposed over the coronavirus, possibly by another month, local media reported on Thursday.
With the initial month-long period coming to an end next week after the country’s annual Golden Week holidays, local media reported that Abe was now expected to extend the measure, either until the end of May or for another full month until June 6.
In parliament on Thursday, Abe said the country’s healthcare system continues to face an “extremely tough situation.”
He told lawmakers on Wednesday that “even now, we are seeing new infections,” adding: “Can we say on May 6 the state of emergency is over? I think severe situations are continuing.”