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Armenia uses dexamethasone in treating patients who are critically ill with COVID-19, the health authorities said.

The medication is given exclusively to those patients who receive treatment at rehabilitation departments with a doctor’s prescription, Ministry of Health spokeswoman Alina Nikoghosyan told Panorama.am.

Earlier on Tuesday the World Health Organization (WHO) welcomed the initial clinical trial results from the United Kingdom that show dexamethasone, a corticosteroid, can be lifesaving for patients who are critically ill with coronavirus.

For patients on ventilators, the treatment was shown to reduce mortality by about one third, and for patients requiring only oxygen, mortality was cut by about one fifth, according to preliminary findings shared with WHO.

The benefit was only seen in patients seriously ill with COVID-19, and was not observed in patients with milder disease.