43k positive cases reported today vs 49k last Friday, and week-on-week drop increases to 12.7%
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[News] The Coronavirus Good News thread
- Thread starter Bozza
- Start date
Cases still dropping - long may it continue
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-59163899
Scientists stepping up the fear game but stick to the facts and more good news here
Scientists stepping up the fear game but stick to the facts and more good news here
Uter
Well-known member
Posting the full text of the article as I think this is potentially a big boost to the treatment of symptomatic Covid:
First pill to treat Covid gets approval in UK
The first pill designed to treat symptomatic Covid has been approved by the UK medicines regulator.
The tablet - molnupiravir - will be given twice a day to vulnerable patients recently diagnosed with the disease.
In clinical trials the pill, originally developed to treat flu, cut the risk of hospitalisation or death by about half.
Health secretary Sajid Javid said the treatment was a "gamechanger" for the most frail and immunosuppressed.
In a statement he said: "Today is a historic day for our country, as the UK is now the first country in the world to approve an antiviral that can be taken at home for Covid."
First oral treatment
Molnupiravir, developed by the US drug companies Merck, Sharp and Dohme (MSD) and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, is the first oral antiviral medication for Covid which can be taken as a pill rather than injected or given intravenously.
It targets an enzyme that the virus uses to make copies of itself, introducing errors into its genetic code. That should prevent it from multiplying, so keeping virus levels low in the body and reducing the severity of the disease.
Merck said that approach should make the treatment equally effective against new variants of the virus as it evolves in the future.
The UK regulator, the MHRA, said the tablet had been authorised for use in people who have mild to moderate Covid and at least one risk factor for developing severe illness such as obesity, old age, diabetes or heart disease.
The organisation's chief executive, June Raine, described the treatment as "another therapeutic to add to our armoury against Covid-19".
"It is the world's first approved antiviral for this disease that can be taken by mouth rather than administered intravenously," she said.
"This is important, because it means it can be administered outside of a hospital setting, before Covid-19 has progressed to a severe stage."
The UK has initially ordered 480,000 courses of molnupiravir to be delivered by the end of the year, along with 250,000 courses of a similar experimental drug currently being developed by US drug company Pfizer.
The UK government has not revealed how much the contract is worth.
But the US government has made an advance purchase of 1.7 million courses of the drug at a cost of roughly $1.2 billion, or roughly $700 (£513) for each course.
Other countries including Australia, Singapore and South Korea have made purchase agreements.
Professor Stephen Powis, national medical director for NHS England, said: "The NHS stands ready to support the planned study on molnupiravir and other antivirals in patients at higher risk of complications, and to provide wider roll out if it is shown to be clinically and cost effective in reducing hospitalisations and death."
Clinical trials
Earlier clinical trials of molnupiravir on 775 patients who had recently caught Covid found:
7.3% of those given the drug were hospitalised
that compares with 14.1% of patients who were given a placebo or dummy pill
there were no deaths in the molnupiravir group, but eight patients who were given a placebo in the trial later died of Covid
The data was published in a press release and has not yet been peer-reviewed.
Trial results suggest molnupiravir needs to be taken soon after symptoms develop to have an effect. An earlier study in patients who had already been hospitalised with severe Covid was halted after disappointing results.
Global rollout
Merck is the first company to report trial results of a pill to treat Covid, but other companies are working on similar treatments.
Its US rival Pfizer has started trials of two different antiviral tablets, while Swiss company Roche is working on a similar medication.
- Nov 11, 2009
- 12,275
Saw that and does look like a really big deal with Pfizer developing something similar too, it's not over but it feels like we're winning the battle a little at a time.
Don't want to be nagative on the good news thread , but the quoted price being paid per course/person seems a rip off tbh. I know drug companies need to recoup and make a profit, but as this drug was already developed to treat flu and you'd guess then modified, 700$ a course seems like excessive profiteering?
Drug fantastic, global availability to poorer nations may be hampered with such prices
- Thread starter
- #8,287
Andrew Lilico [MENTION=11994]Andrew[/MENTION]_lilico
R estimated as far below 1 in every single region of England! 0.67 in Yorks & Humber! Highest now London at 0.89.
https://www.mrc-bsu.cam.ac.uk/now-casting/nowcasting-and-forecasting-5th-november-2021/
also
England today. 28,490, down from 36,853 last Friday. As a bonus, the number of people in hospital with Covid has fallen for the fourth day in a row.
R estimated as far below 1 in every single region of England! 0.67 in Yorks & Humber! Highest now London at 0.89.
https://www.mrc-bsu.cam.ac.uk/now-casting/nowcasting-and-forecasting-5th-november-2021/
also
England today. 28,490, down from 36,853 last Friday. As a bonus, the number of people in hospital with Covid has fallen for the fourth day in a row.
Zoe outlook also positive - suggesting cases may have peaked.
https://covid.joinzoe.com/post/covid-cases-probably-peaked
https://covid.joinzoe.com/post/covid-cases-probably-peaked
Terry Butcher Tribute Act
Well-known member
- Aug 18, 2013
- 3,674
And yet I've not had a push notification from The Guardian or indeed the usual media suspects say anything about this. Weird.
If only it was under control like in Germany.
Good news though all the same.
Sent from my SM-G998B using Tapatalk
Fewer cases reported in the whole UK today than there were in just England last Sunday
30k cases reported today vs 38k last Sunday, and a 12.9% week on week drop, and admissions seem to be plateauing too. Testing numbers broadly similar (for comparison, Germany now has only slightly lower case numbers - 25k - but 80% fewer tested).
All three main indicators showing a week on week reduction today…..first time for a long time I think.
Weststander
Well-known member
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-59262701
Turns out that the four UK governments/scientists got two other key aspects correct this year:
1. The long interval between jabs 1 and 2 proved to have a huge tangible benefit.
2. Widespread natural immunity gained in the summer months, unlike elsewhere is helping our key metrics just now …. in the flu season.
Going against the party politicised nsc posts a few short weeks ago claiming we were sinking compared to a continental Covid utopia.
Turns out that the four UK governments/scientists got two other key aspects correct this year:
1. The long interval between jabs 1 and 2 proved to have a huge tangible benefit.
2. Widespread natural immunity gained in the summer months, unlike elsewhere is helping our key metrics just now …. in the flu season.
Going against the party politicised nsc posts a few short weeks ago claiming we were sinking compared to a continental Covid utopia.
- Thread starter
- #8,296
Great real-world data has been published from our own booster programme demonstrating just how well they work at keeping people well and out of hospital.
Press release here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/...gainst-symptomatic-covid-19-in-adults-over-50
Full write-up Word doco here: https://t.co/IMm27wawL8?amp=1
TL;DR: The booster dose cuts your chances of getting infected with Delta by at least 7x-9x vs being double-vaccinated.
Get yourself boosted when you have the chance!
Press release here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/...gainst-symptomatic-covid-19-in-adults-over-50
Full write-up Word doco here: https://t.co/IMm27wawL8?amp=1
TL;DR: The booster dose cuts your chances of getting infected with Delta by at least 7x-9x vs being double-vaccinated.
Get yourself boosted when you have the chance!
Was listening to the radio this morning……..BBC journo seemed to be after a quote from someone senior in a hospital about how bad things were with Covid……but was batted back every time……(paraphrased but along these lines :
How many covid patients ? ‘About two wards’
That sounds a lot…’we had 10 full wards in the previous wave, and we’ve not been below one - it’s pretty stable’
Who exactly are the people in hospital with Covid ? ‘They are almost all unvaccinated, and most have other conditions……vaccinated people by and large aren’t getting sick enough to need hospital treatment’
How many covid patients ? ‘About two wards’
That sounds a lot…’we had 10 full wards in the previous wave, and we’ve not been below one - it’s pretty stable’
Who exactly are the people in hospital with Covid ? ‘They are almost all unvaccinated, and most have other conditions……vaccinated people by and large aren’t getting sick enough to need hospital treatment’
Return of the Rev
Well-known member
Why the hell don't the Covid stats split vaccinated and non vaccinated, would help encourage take up Shirley?
Weststander
Well-known member
Mrs.W works at Worthing Hospital, sometimes on the Covid wards where full blown PPE is worn. Invariably since late spring, inpatient notes state they’re unvaccinated.
The compiled data is out there, Dr Chris Smith explained not so long ago that it is available to all but takes digging.
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