UK’s top experts want coronavirus patients to start clinical trials

The top medical experts in the UK are urging clinicians to place coronavirus patients into clinical trials.

NHS England medical director Professor Stephen Powis along with the UK’s chief medical officers said in an open letter, are calling for trials to start.

They said in the open letter, “As yet, there are no proven treatments for COVID-19.

“We need to gather reliable evidence through clinical trials.

“Using international evidence and UK expertise the most promising potential treatments, at this stage, have been identified and the UK is running national clinical trials to gather evidence across the whole disease spectrum.”

England’s chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, said evidence from the trials “will be used to inform treatment decisions and benefit patients in the immediate future.”

“The faster that patients are recruited, the sooner we will get reliable results,” as using treatments without taking part in a trial would be a “wasted opportunity” Professor Whitty and chief medical officers urged.

The principle clinical trial is open to people aged 50 to 64-years who have coronavirus symptoms and have an underlying condition such as heart disease, asthma or cancer.

People aged 65-years or over, with or without other illnesses can also apply.

The first drug that will be trialled is hydroxychloroquine.

Palliative care expert, Kathryn Mannix told the BBC that people with a severe case of coronavirus wil died very “quickly.”

To help the public cope, Mannix explained how to understand the “horrible distressing” process.

She told, BBC’s Coronavirus Newcast, “Knowing what to expect because the process itself, even if it’s happening quite quickly as it is with this lung inflammation from the coronavirus, is not something that is horribly uncomfortable or horribly distressing.”

Experts have warned that the peak of coronavirus will happen within a fortnight, as London has now over 1,000 deaths.

According to the Health Service Journal, the current confirmed cases across London as of, 9am on Thursday morning, stands at 1,053, with 161 more deaths in the capital on Friday.

The Department for Heath announced on Friday, “As of 9am 3 April, a total of 173,784 people have been tested of which 38,168 tested positive.

“As of 5pm on 2 April, of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 3,605 have sadly died.” This an increase of 23% in just one day.

An NHS doctor who is on the frontline has warned that her ward is full of young people and is urging people to strictly follow the lockdown laws.

Dr Ami Jones who works at the Royal Gwent Hospital as an intensive care consultant said the hospital is “very, very busy.”

“It’s not just the vulnerable and elderly that are getting poorly, my unit is full of 20, 30 and 40-year-olds.”

NHS doctors face “grave decisions” over who lives and who dies according to new guidance issued over life saving treatment for coronavirus patients.