translated from Spanish: Dexamethasone is not preventive treatment and is for severe cases: WHO

The World Health Organization warned that dexamethasone should be administered in hospitals and only to very serious patients with COVID-19.
“Dexamethasone accelerates recovery of severe patients but is not effective in patients with mild symptoms,” World Health Organization emergency chief Michael Ryan said at a news conference.
Read: Dexamethasone Reduces Mortality Among COVID-19 Patients, Study
The steroid dexamethasone reduces mortality among the most severe patients of COVID-19 by one third, according to the first results of a large clinical trial announced yesterday Tuesday.
Michael Ryan indicated that the population has to act cautiously as it can only be used under medical supervision.
To the medical community, he said that “this is not the time to rush to change clinical practice” and stressed the importance of determining the dose, the method for assessing the sick and whether there are sufficient amounts of the drug, among other aspects.
Find out: What is dexamethasone and what evidence and limitations it has against COVID
According to preliminary results, among those who could only breathe with the help of a respirator, dexamethasone reduced deaths by 35%, while mortality fell by one-fifth among those receiving oxygen.
With information from AFP
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Original source in Spanish