Coronavirus symptoms: Professor says range should be expanded
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The triple tactic of lockdowns, vaccines and treatments are reducing the risk posed by COVID-19, Professor Chris Whitty said in a press briefing on Monday. In a nod to the latter, Prof Whitty highlighted the promise of tocilizumab – a drug normally used to treat arthritis – in treating severe Covid cases. Tocilizumab has been proven to improve survival outcomes when taken on top of a steroid, he said.
For every 25 patients treated with tocilizumab, along with a cheap steroid already routinely given, an additional life would be saved, NHS doctors have said elsewhere.
As well as improving survival and recovery time, it can avoid patients needing to be moved to intensive care, said the NHS doctors.
Patient testimony from Wendy Coleman, 62, attests to the promise of tocilizumab in treating those severely ill with COVID-19.
As the BBC reported, Coleman received the treatment last year when she was admitted to Chesterfield Royal Hospital with severe COVID-19.
“I was struggling to breathe quite badly and on the verge of being placed in an intensive care unit.
“After I was given tocilizumab, my condition stabilised and I didn’t get any worse. Up until then, it was quite scary as I didn’t know if I was going to make it or not,” she said.
Researchers involved in the clinical trial for tocilizumab said that around half of people admitted to hospital with Covid could benefit from the treatment.
Their conclusions are based on a clinical trial that involved more than 4,000 volunteers.
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Half of the Covid patients were given tocilizumab, via a drip, alongside usual care with a life-saving cheap steroid drug called dexamethasone.
In that group, compared to another group that did not receive the new drug:
- Tocilizumab cut death risk – 596 (29 percent) of the patients in the tocilizumab group died within 28 days compared with 694 (33 percent) patients in the usual care group
- It reduced the chance of a patient needing to go on a ventilator or dying from 38 percent to 33 percent).
Combined, tocilizumab and dexamethasone should cut death risk by about a third for patients on oxygen and halve it for those on a ventilator, the researchers said.
Prof Martin Landray, joint chief investigator of the RECOVERY trial and a medical expert at Oxford University, said: “Used in combination, the impact is substantial. This is good news for patients and good news for the health services that care for them in the UK and around the world.”
Prof Martin Landray, joint chief investigator of the RECOVERY trial and a medical expert at Oxford University, said: “Used in combination, the impact is substantial. This is good news for patients and good news for the health services that care for them in the UK and around the world.”
Dr Charlotte Summers, an intensive care medic at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, said: “These findings are a tremendous step forwards. This therapy looks like it keeps people out of the intensive care unit so they never need to see people like me which can only be a good thing.”
Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said: “We are working quickly and closely with colleagues across the health system and sector to ensure every NHS patient who needs this treatment should be able to access it – reducing further pressures on the NHS and potentially saving thousands of lives.”
NHS national medical director Prof Stephen Powis added that it was another breakthrough in the ongoing fight against coronavirus.
When will I be called for the vaccine?
The NHS is currently offering the COVID-19 vaccine to people most at risk from coronavirus.
In England, the vaccine is being offered in some hospitals and pharmacies, at local vaccination centres run by GPs and at larger vaccination centres. More centres are opening all the time.
It’s being given to:
- People aged 65 and over
- People who are at high risk from coronavirus (clinically extremely vulnerable)
- People who are at moderate risk from coronavirus (clinically vulnerable)
- People who live or work in care homes
- Health and social care workers.
The order in which people will be offered the vaccine is based on advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).
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