The World Health Organization (WHO) has said it will update its clinical guidelines after a trial showed that 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 WHO’s clinical guidance is meant to keep doctors and other medical professionals informed with the latest data.
“This is the first treatment to be shown to reduce mortality in patients with Covid-19 requiring oxygen or ventilator support,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
BBC spoke to a patient who survived Covid-19 after taking part in the trial. She said she feels “eternally grateful” and believes she would have died without it.