The Public Health Ministry accepted 50,000 treatment courses of antiviral drug Paxlovid to help COVID-19 patients whose number can rise after the Songkran festival.
Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul presided over a ceremony in which the Department of Medical Services accepted 50,000 treatment courses of the medicine from its supplier, Pfizer. The Government Pharmaceutical Organization was assigned to store and distribute the medicine for the treatment of the COVID-19 patients who have mild and moderate symptoms and risk of severe illness.
The drug was expected to reduce admission to hospitals and fatalities especially after the Songkran festival when the number of COVID-19 patients may rise.
Mr Anutin said that doctors would give the drug to the patients who needed it. The patients who were not prescribed any medicine were very healthy and doctors based their treatment of patients on professionalism, he said.
Dr Kiattiphum Wongrajit, permanent secretary for public health, said research on 1,379 patients showed that Paxlovid could reduce hospital admission or fatality rates by 88% if patients had it within five days after developing a symptom. (TNA)
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