Hong Kong public hospitals to revise Covid-19 treatment guidelines, highlight effective drugs behind low mortality rates
- Hospital Authority’s infectious disease expert says new guidelines will highlight Interferon as major medication, combined with Ribavirin
- Revelation comes as city continues to register drop in new daily cases amid third wave
Hong Kong’s public hospitals will revise clinical treatment guidelines for Covid-19 patients to better highlight the effectiveness of an antiviral drug that has helped achieve one of the lowest coronavirus death rates in the world.
Dr Owen Tsang Tak-yin, medical director of the Hospital Authority’s infectious disease centre at Princess Margaret Hospital, made the revelation at a media briefing on Thursday as the city’s third wave of infections showed signs of easing, with health officials reporting 21 new cases, taking the local tally to 4,755, with 81 related deaths.
“The third wave has been very rapid and fierce,” Tsang said. “But despite that, we have one of the lowest mortality rates worldwide, at about 1.6 per cent.”
One factor that helped suppress the death rate was effective treatment, which centred on a cocktail therapy involving antiviral drug Interferon; Kaletra, a drug originally used for HIV/Aids, and Ribavirin, which was also used for hepatitis C, according to Tsang.
The treatment guidelines, which were last updated in June, would be revised “very soon”, Tsang said, and would highlight Interferon as the major medication for Covid-19, combined with Ribavirin. But Kaletra may lead to some side effects and has proved to be unsuitable for some patients, causing liver problems in such cases.