Boris Johnson praises UK scientists for 'life-saving' treatments

He said: “I’m pleased to tell you today British scientific research has now contributed to the creation of more new life-saving treatments that have just passed rigorous clinical trials. In particular, tocilizumab and sarilumab, which have been found to reduce the risk of death in critically ill patients by almost a quarter and they’ve cut time spent in intensive care by as much as 10 days.

“These life-saving drugs will be available through the NHS with immediate effect, potentially saving thousands of lives.”

The anti-inflammatory medications are given to patients via a drip and were approved for use after trials in NHS intensive care units.

Their approval comes as the UK’s hospitals rare under renewed pressure.

There are currently 30,370 patients in hospital, nearly 40 percent more than at the peak of the first wave of the pandemic when 18,974 Brits were admitted to wards.

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Earlier this week the four Chief Medical Officers from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland recommend moving UK from Covid-19 alert level 4 to level 5.

The alert level is the highest warning and means there is a “risk of healthcare services being overwhelmed”.

In a joint statement the Chief Medical Officers said: “We are not confident that the NHS can handle a further sustained rise in cases and without further action there is a material risk of the NHS in several areas being overwhelmed over the next 21 days.”

More to follow…

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