WHO sees ‘potentially positive data’ on COVID-19 treatments – Reuters

GENEVA (Reuters) – The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that some remedies appear to be limiting the severity or dimension of the COVID-19 illness and that it used to be specializing in learning more about four or 5 of the most promising ones.

The Geneva-essentially essentially essentially based WHO is main a world initiative to assemble safe and efficient vaccines, tests and medicine to prevent, diagnose and tackle COVID-19. The respiratory sickness has infected 4.19 million folks all the most life like likely way by way of the sector, essentially essentially essentially based on a Reuters tally.

“We enact enjoy some remedies that appear to be in very early stories limiting the severity or the dimension of the sickness but we enact no longer enjoy something else that will presumably well crash or cease the virus,” spokeswoman Margaret Harris urged a briefing, relating to the body’s so-called Cohesion Trial of substances in opposition to the illness.

“We enact enjoy potentially sure data popping out but we would prefer to stare more data to be 100% assured that we can convey this therapy over that one,” she added, announcing more learn used to be wanted and planned.

Harris didn’t title the remedies. Gilead science Inc GILD.O says its antiviral drug remdesivir has helped toughen outcomes for COVID-19 sufferers.

The WHO official sounded a exclaim their own praises of caution around expectations for a vaccine, alternatively, announcing coronaviruses in frequent are “very anxious viruses” which could be “complex to crash vaccines in opposition to”.

Bigger than 100 attainable COVID-19 vaccines are being developed, in conjunction with plenty of in scientific trials. The WHO said in April a vaccine would score no decrease than 12 months.

Harris said that the Americas had been the hot “centre” of the pandemic, even when she also well-known rising situations in Africa. Nonetheless, she said the continent had a “huge advantage” over other nations with miniature trip of infectious illness outbreaks.

“They regularly enjoy very ethical contact tracing infrastructure and a deep, deep, deep memory and figuring out of why we score a brand contemporary pathogen very, very severely,” she said, singling out South Africa for its efficient finding out and direct to tracing.

Requested about the explanations for high case hundreds in the US and Brazil, Harris said: “Across the sector we now enjoy seen that the warnings we effect out gorgeous from the starting up, very, very early on, weren’t seen as warnings just a few truly serious, lethal illness.”

She restated that the WHO, which has come below criticism in particular from the US for its facing of the pandemic, would conduct an “after-action” evaluate that will presumably well consist of a “free and frank” dialogue on its efficiency.

U.S. President Donald Trump is working to reopen the financial system quick in opposition to ideas from well being consultants to transfer cautiously to preserve up away from a resurgence of the virus that has to this point killed more than 80,000 folks in the US, the finest dying toll in the sector. He said he acted early to prevent the unfold of the illness.

Brazil has registered a entire of 168,331 confirmed situations of the virus and 11,519 deaths, the most threatening outbreak in an rising market nation.

The finest threat to Brazil’s capacity to fight the unfold of the coronavirus is President Jair Bolsonaro, essentially essentially essentially based on British scientific journal The Lancet.

In an editorial, the Lancet said his brush apart for and flouting of lockdown measures used to be sowing confusion all the most life like likely way by way of Brazil. Bolsonaro’s press office declined to commentary on the Lancet editorial.

(GRAPHIC: The lifeline pipeline – here)