There are eight new cases of covid-19 in New Zealand, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield says. The total number of cases is now 28. The new cases today all relate to overseas travel.
Scientists in China are reporting disappointing results from the first study completed on a potential COVID-19 treatment.
A combination of two antiviral drugs that are used now to treat HIV — lopinavir and ritonavir — did not resolve symptoms quicker than usual care did. The study involving 199 hospitalised, severelyill patients was published Wednesday (US time) in the New England Journal of Medicine.
However, "intriguing" signs were seen in some other results.
COVID-19 UPDATE
74,855,994
cases
42,277,369
recovered
1,659,941
deaths
Flatten the curve
Move the slider left to see what happens
when the number of people infected by each infected person is reduced.
There were slightly fewer deaths among those given the drugs but the comparison group that received just usual care also was sicker, making this information hard to interpret, two editors wrote in an editorial in the journal.
Many other medicines are still being tested in various experiments including remdesivir, an experimental antiviral drug that has shown some promise against viruses similar to the one causing COVID-19.
