Virus Drug Trial Raises Hopes in the US despite Slumping Economy

By Staff, Agencies

The economic impact of the coronavirus deepened Wednesday as the United States saw its worst slump in a decade, yet there was a ray of hope as patients responded positively to an anti-viral drug in a major trial.

Meanwhile, world countries are balancing the desire to ease lockdowns and help their economies against the risk of a second wave of the pandemic that has already killed 214,000 people and infected three million.

Fears that COVID-19 could trigger the biggest global recession for a century heightened with the grim figures from the United States, and further bad news from European powerhouse Germany and a host of major companies worldwide.

But global stock markets still shot higher after US pharmaceutical giant Gilead reported positive results on the use of its drug remdesivir against the respiratory disease in a US government trial.

According to US health and infectious disease specialist Anthony Fauci, remdesivir showed a "clear-cut, significant, positive effect in diminishing the time to recovery" for coronavirus patients.

Speaking at the White House, Fauci said a smaller Chinese study released separately Wednesday showing no benefits from remdesivir was "not an adequate study."

Experts have warned that only drug treatments or a vaccine can really bring an end to the pandemic but that it could take more than a year to find a cure, leaving the world to rely on lockdowns and distancing measures until then.

Relatively, the World Health Organization, which has come under fire from US President Donald Trump over its handling of the pandemic, said its emergency committee would meet Thursday for the first time since it declared coronavirus an international emergency three months ago.