Coronavirus LIVE Updates: WHO Welcomes Dexamethasone Results as World Finally Catches a Break Against Covid-19 Pandemic

Infection Growth in Delhi is Exponential: Niti Aayog | Niti Aayog chief Amitabh Kant says growth of Covid-19 infection in Delhi is exponential. Growth trends in top 15 districts indicate an increase in Kolkata, Palghar and Hyderabad, says Kant.

Australia Accuses China and Russia of Virus Disinformation | China and Russia are using the heightened anxiety around the coronavirus pandemic to undermine Western democracies by spreading disinformation online, says Australia's foreign minister. The disinformation contributed to a 'climate of fear and division' when the world needed cooperation and understanding, Foreign Minister Marise Payne says in a speech at the Australian National University. Payne refers to a European Union commission report last week that said "foreign actors and certain third countries, in particular Russia and China" are flooding Europe with "targeted influence operations and disinformation campaigns."

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 WHO Model List of Essential Medicines since 1977 in multiple formulations, and is currently off-patent and affordably available in most countries. 

Dexamethasone Found to Save 1 in 3 Gravest Covid-19 Patients | Giving low doses of the generic steroid drug dexamethasone to patients admitted to hospital with Covid-19 reduced death rates by around a third among those with the most severe cases of infection, showed a trial data. The results, described as a "major breakthrough" by scientists leading the UK-led clinical trial known as RECOVERY, suggest the drug should immediately become standard care in patients treated in hospital with the pandemic disease. READ MORE

Maharashtra government admits data discrepancy in Covid-19 management in view of the missing deaths issue. In an exclusive conversation with CNN News18, Chief Secretary Ajoy Mehta says the state government had noticed data discrepancy, and had hence ordered the district administrations to reconcile information immediately. The government issued orders to district administrations on June 11. The government attributes both rise in the number of deaths and the sudden spike in the number of recoveries 2 days ago, to data reconciliation. Maharashtra recovery rate had jumped above 50 per cent days ago.

Ramp Up Testing in Delhi: ICMR Tells Health Secy | The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) writes to the Union Health Secretary for need to ramp-up Covid-19 testing in Delhi, and asks for more procurement of rapid antigen test kits.

Dexamethasone - A Lifesaving Scientific Breakthrough: WHO | The World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus congratulates the UK government, the University of Oxford, and the many hospitals and patients in the UK who have contributed to this lifesaving scientific breakthrough.

WHO will coordinate a meta-analysis to increase our overall understanding of the intervention. WHO clinical guidance will be updated to reflect how and when Dexamethasone should be used in Covid-19.

Dexamethasone is 1st Drug to Show Effect on Patients Requiring Ventilator Support: WHO | The benefit of Dexamethasone was only seen in patients seriously ill with Covid-19, and was not observed in patients with milder disease. WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says, it is the first treatment to have shown effect in reducing mortality in patients with Covid-19 who require oxygen or ventilator support.

What is Dexamethasone and How Has it Improved Survival Chances of Covid-19 Patients | It is a low-cost steroid that is available widely, including in India. It is known to be used to treat inflammations and conditions such as arthritis, blood disorders, lupus, allergic reactions and skin conditions. India has not officially recommended its use so far. Researchers from the University of Oxford have said that Dexamethasone, a low-cost steroid is improving survival chances of Covid-19 patients. These were the results from a randomised trial and a detailed paper will be published on it soon. READ MORE

WHO Welcomes Results Saying Dexamethasone Reduces Mortality | The World Health Organization (WHO) welcomes the initial clinical trial results from the United Kingdom (UK) that show dexamethasone, a corticosteroid, can be lifesaving for patients who are critically ill with Covid-19. For 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, according to preliminary findings shared with WHO.

Vande Bharat Mission | The second flight of Air India takes off from Auckland airport, carrying 217 stranded Indians from New Zealand.

The second flight of Air India took off from Auckland airport this morning carrying 217 stranded Indians from New Zealand, back home under #vandebharatmisson: Indian High Commission in New Zealand pic.twitter.com/lnAXMGF4Xo

— ANI (@ANI) June 17, 2020

Delhi Records 437 Deaths, Highest in a Single Day | The death toll from Covid-19 in Delhi surges to 1,837 a massive jump of 437 deaths being reported in a day, the largest number of fatalities being recorded in one day. While 1,859 fresh coronavirus cases took the tally in the city to over 44,000-mark, according to the health bulletin released by the Delhi government.

People of Indore have followed guidelines of Covid-19 lockdown, so the chain of transmission has been broken. It's a good thing and people should continue to practice social distancing, and also take other precautionary measures, says Mahendra Sharma, Chief Medical and Health Officer, Madhya Pradesh.

Jodhpur railway division prepares 150 isolation coaches for northwestern railway zone of which 50 are for Jodhpur. The coaches have been modified according to standard design, says Gopal Sharma, Public Relations Officer, Jodhpur Railway Division.

44 New Cases in Indore | 44 more people test positive for coronavirus in Madhya Pradesh's Indore, taking the total number of positive cases in the district to 4,134. Death toll in the district stands at 182: Chief Medical and Health Officer, Indore district.

Death Toll Crosses 10,000-mark | India's Covid-19 death toll crosses 10,000 as the Centre scales up the daily testing capacity to three lakh samples and Prime Minister Narendra Modi initiates his sixth round of consultations with chief ministers in three months laying emphasis on both life and livelihood. According to a PTI tally, based on reports from states, there have been 10,057 deaths with Maharashtra, Gujarat and Delhi accounting for 70 per cent of the fatalities.