VIRUS WANES
UK Covid cases drop a FIFTH in a week after another 76,807 test positive and 297 more people die
UK COVID cases have dropped a FIFTH in a week after another 76,807 people tested positive for the virus.
Official figures also show that 297 Brits have died from the virus in the last 24 hours.
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A week ago on January 15, 81,713 cases were recorded in the UK.
Cases in the last seven days are down a fifth on the seven day period before, according to the NHS website.
And today's infection number is also lower than yesterday, when 95,787 were reported.
Last week, 287 people lost their lives to Covid, which is slightly less than today's 297.
Meanwhile, Brit scientists believe they have developed a new wonder pill that could tackle both covid and flu, new trial results suggest.
West Sussex-based biotech firm iosBio revealed that their new capsuled medicine dubbed “fluvid” had shown “excellent results” after a set of early studies took place this month.
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The oral treatment could be sent through the post for people to take at home.
And if human trials of the pill, expected to start later this year, are successful, they could be to boost virus defences during the winter period.
Wayne Channon, executive chairman of iosBio, said: “It looks like we’re going to have booster vaccinations for quite some time to come and we have flu vaccinations every year.
“With our approach, there is no reason why you can’t have a thermally stable pill, or capsule, which contains the normal four strains for a flu vaccine plus one for Covid.
“We’ve had excellent results in animal trials on all strains.”
The exciting new comes just weeks after a new covid at home pill was approved by an NHS regulator.
The treatment, called Paxlovid, was developed by Pfizer and works by stopping the protease that allows the virus to replicate.
This in turn stops it from multiplying and helps the body get over infection.
Patients having the treatment will be given two tablets that are taken together, twice a day for five days.
The treatment has been tested extensively and in clinical trials, experts found that in high-risk adults with symptomatic coronavirus infection, a five-day treatment course of Paxlovid reduced the risk of Covid-19 related hospitalisation and death within 28 days by 89 per cent.
Dr June Raine, MHRA Chief Executive, said: "We now have a further antiviral medicine for the treatment of Covid-19 that can be taken by mouth rather than administered intravenously.
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"This means it can be administered outside a hospital setting before Covid-19 has progressed to a severe stage.
“I hope the announcement gives reassurance to those particularly vulnerable to Covid-19, for whom this treatment has been approved. For these individuals, this treatment could be life-saving.”
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