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LONDON (Reuters) – Britain\\\’s health minister on Wednesday hailed the use of a steroid called dexamethasone for treating coronavirus patients as the best news so far of the outbreak.
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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.
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“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.”
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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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(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Kate Holton; editing by Michael Holden)
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