A £5 steroid which is already available in NHS hospitals cuts deaths of people on ventilators by one third and will be rolled out within 24 hours. 

Dexamethasone, an anti-inflammatory medication used to treat arthritis, severe allergies and asthma, is the first drug that has been shown to save lives and experts hailed the results as a ‘major breakthrough.’

A trial of 2,100 patients showed that it reduced the death rate of people on ventilators by 30 per cent. Currently four in 10 patients with the most severe form of Covid-19 who need mechanical ventilation will die.

The steroid saves one life for every eight patients on ventilators, meaning just two people instead of three will die. It also cuts the death rate of people needing oxygen by one fifth. [Read more]