More than 3.34 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 237,137 have died,according to a Reuters tally.
Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.
Meanwhile, it was reported that an experimental drug seems to be the first effective treatment for COVID-19 has unleashed a flurry of interest.
Talk turned Thursday to how quickly the federal Food and Drug Administration might act on Gilead Sciences’s remdesivir after preliminary results from a major study found it shortened the recovery time by an average of four days for people hospitalized with COVID-19.
“You do now have a drug that you have proven can actually work on the virus,” the National Institutes of Health’s Dr. Anthony Fauci told The Associated Press.
“Will it be an overwhelming cure? No, of course not,” Fauci said. But with its use, “you will free up hospital beds, you will take less stress on the health care system.”
No drug currently is approved for treating the virus, which has killed thousands of people worldwide since it emerged late last year.
