News that ‘breakthrough’ coronavirus drug is made in SA

“Our critical care wards at Groote Schuur and at Tygerberg are currently running at near capacity, however, two exciting medical breakthroughs may help to relieve some of this pressure,” he said.

The high flow nasal oxygen which we are bringing online is starting to make a difference at both Groote Schuur and at Tygerberg, as it presents an alternative therapy to people being treated on ventilators.

“We are also currently working on the clinical protocols for dexamethasone administration to patients on ventilators and oxygen therapy. Preliminary results coming out of the UK have shown really positive results in reducing mortality in serious cases of Covid-19.”

On Wednesday, Health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said South Africa will look at the use of the drug, dexamethasone, as a means of the treatment for severe Covid-19 cases in the country.

Dexamethasone is a steroid that has been used since the 1960s to reduce inflammation in a range of conditions, including inflammatory disorders and certain cancers.

It has been listed on the World Health Organisation Model List of Essential Medicines since 1977 in multiple formulations and is currently off-patent and affordably available in most countries.

A recent UK trial found that patients on ventilators, the treatment was shown to reduce mortality by about one third, and for patients requiring only oxygen, mortality was cut by about one fifth.

Cases still increasing

As of 13h00 on 18 June, the Western Cape has 12,722 active cases of Covid-19, with a total of 46,951 confirmed cases and 32,953 recoveries.

The province recorded an additional 71 deaths, bringing the total number of Covid-19 related deaths in the Western Cape to 1,276.

“The Western Cape Department of Health was notified today that all samples currently being processed at the National Health Laboratory Services labs in the Western Cape have been received in the past 48 hours,” said Winde.

This means that the backlog in testing, which reached up to 27,000 tests at its worst, has now been completely cleared.

“We will continue to track the situation to determine whether the NHLS can continue to process tests without developing a new backlog before reviewing our decision to implement a risk-adjusted testing strategy which focuses on providing testing to residents which need it most- including healthcare workers, those already in hospital, those over the age of 55, people in old aged homes and people with comorbidities which would put them at additional risk.”

Comorbidities

Winde also highlighted some of the recent findings on how Covid-19 impacts people living with HIV, TB and other comorbidities.

“These findings are important because while we have good data coming from other countries around comorbidities, there was little data around whether HIV and TB presented increased risk,” he said.

“The findings have revealed that while these two comorbidities do present slightly increased risk, the impact is small compared to the risks associated with old age and other illnesses like diabetes and high blood pressure.”

Using data available in the public sector for comorbidities, Winde said that for every 100 Covid-19 deaths in the public sector: