Coronapod: Dexamethasone, the cheap steroid that could cut coronavirus deaths

In this episode:00:37 Lessons from the Ebola outbreakWe get an update on the pandemic response in the African countries still reeling from the 2014 Ebola crisis. Resource strapped and under pressure – can the lessons learned from Ebola help keep the coronavirus under control?15:32 Dexamethasone, a breakthrough drug?A UK-based drugs trial suggests that a cheap steroid could cut deaths by a third among the sickest COVID patients. We discuss what this could mean for the pandemic.News: Coronavirus breakthrough: dexamethasone is first drug shown to save lives20:06 One good thingOur hosts pick out things that have made them smile in the last week, including altruistic bone marrow donors, and skateboarding.22:48 The numbers don’t lieA huge amount of projections, graphs and data have been produced during the pandemic. But how accurate are numbers and can they be relied upon?News: Why daily death tolls have become unusually important in understanding the coronavirus pandemicSubscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.