In the first two months of the pandemic, 85,000 cases of #covid19 were reported, says @DrTedros at the start of @WHO presser on #covid19. "In the past two months 6 million cases have been reported."

In the light of yesterday’s announcement on #dexamethasone from UK’s recovery trial, @drtedros says @WHO will update clinical guidance "to reflect how and when dexamethasone should be used to treat #covid19": "This is very welcome news for those patients with severe #covid19.”

Q about dexamethasone.
"It is exceptionally important that this drug is used under medical supervision. This is not for prophylaxis, this is not for mild cases”, says @DrMikeRyan. “It can rescue patients who are in very serious condition."

(Glad that @DrMikeRyan is stressing this. Many people apparently assume that if something works as a treatment for severe patients it should work for mild cases or as prophylaxis as well or even better. That is definitely NOT the case here.)

"It is one of the many breakthroughs we're going to need in order to effectively deal with #COVID19 and as such, we should celebrate that”, @DrMikeRyan
says on #dexamethasone. “But it's still just preliminary data from one study."

"This is not the time to rush to change clinical practice”, says @DrMikeRyan. "People need training, we need to understand what doses do we use, how patients are going to be clinically assessed. We need to make sure there are supplies of the drug, we need to look at a lot..."

And here is the breaking news we have all been waiting for: @WHO has decided to stop giving #hydroxychloroquine in its Solidarity trial.

Ana Maria Henao Restrepo says decision to stop randomizing #covid19 patients to hydroxychloroquine in @WHO’s trial was based on information from both the UK’s recovery trial and the data from the Solidarity trial itself. Together suggest that there is no reduction in mortality.

Q about situation in Brazil.
Epidemic is still severe but some signs it’s stabilizing, says @DrMikeRyan. But can take off again. “It is, I think, ... a moment now to really double down, to really focus on the public health and social measures, to focus on supporting communities."

And this is classic  @DrMikeRyan: "I have no doubt that if the full skill, commitment, ingenuity of the Brazilian state, of the provinces, of the people is leveraged in a united, sustained and combined way that Brazil will bring this disease under control."