Main content

Covid-19: Steroid drug reduces deaths

Trials of a steroid show it can reduce the deaths of those on ventilators by one third

Some good news at last – A widely available drug can help save the lives of patients seriously ill with coronavirus. It cuts the risk of death by a third for patients on ventilators. Claudia Hammond discusses the results with Clare Wilson from the New Scientist.

In the hunt for a treatment for Covid-19, health workers will take chloroquine as part of a large trial that is about to start. Claudia talks to Sinead Delany-Moretlwe, director of research at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa.

The surge of Covid-19 cases in huge cities like Mumbai has brought attention to a long-standing problem – the lack of sanitation and access to toilets. Health Check reporter Chhavi Sachdev reports.

What effect does immobility have on our brains? A new study offers a detailed insight from 12 fit astronauts subjected to a battery of tests in a microgravity simulator. Ivana Rosenzweig, head of the Sleep and Brain Plasticity Centre at Kings College London explains how her work has important implications for understanding astronaut behaviour.

Presenter: Claudia Hammond
Producer: Caroline Steel

(Photo: A female researcher testing a potential vaccine in a laboratory. Credit: Sam Thomas/Getty Images.)

Available now

27 minutes

Last on

Sat 20 Jun 2020 23:32GMT

Broadcasts

  • Wed 17 Jun 2020 19:32GMT
  • Thu 18 Jun 2020 01:32GMT
  • Thu 18 Jun 2020 08:32GMT
  • Thu 18 Jun 2020 12:32GMT
  • Thu 18 Jun 2020 17:32GMT
  • Sat 20 Jun 2020 23:32GMT

Podcast