KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 — Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah today said a clinical trial on the dexamethasone steroid led by a team of researchers from the University of Oxford shows success in treating severe Covid-19 patients.

He said that the drug reduces the risk of death by up to one-third of Covid-19 patients with serious respiratory symptoms, especially those requiring ventilatory support.

"The clinical trial has shown that the dexamethasone is useful in treating Covid-19 patients, especially those under the category four and five,” he said during the ministry’s daily Covid-19 press briefing here.

"This drug is important as it is an anti-inflammatory medicine. So we are using this in terms of four milligrams twice or even three times a day on Covid-19 patients for a maximum of five days only,” he added.

He pointed out that the drug was not something new and expensive as it was introduced for clinical practice way back in the 1960s and was used to treat a lot of illness even for cancer cases.

"From day one we have been using this drug so it’s not something new, but because of Covid-19 infection, every day brings a new lesson and challenge. 

"And now we have evidence that shows it works in category four and five patients. One third of them responded to the treatment and recovered,” he said.

However, Dr Noor Hisham warned that the medicine should not be used without prescription as it has side effects and complications.

"One of the side effects is the cushing syndrome, which includes thinning of skins, bone loss, muscle weakness and sometimes infection.  

"So we advise the public to not use dexamethasone without a doctor’s prescription,” he said.

He also stressed that patients under the first or second category are not recommended to use the drug.