Taipei, June 8 (CNA) A specialist with the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Tuesday urged caution over the use of Remdesivir to treat COVID-19 patients, saying that steroids and antibody drugs are better at treating the disease.
"The use of Remdesivir, an anti-viral drug, is limited in treating COVID-19 patients. Instead, steroids and antibody drugs are more important in lowering mortality rate of patients," CECC specialist advisory panel convener Chang Shan-chwen told a daily CECC news briefing.
Although Remdesivir was initially considered a promising cure for COVID-19 because it was believed it could shorten the course of the disease, that was later found not to be the case, he said.
If the drug is not adequately used at the proper time, it is not very helpful in reducing the fatality rate among COVID-19 patients, he explained.
Chang made the remarks in response to widespread complaints from COVID-19 patients about being unable to gain access to Remdesivir in the wake of the recent surge in the pandemic since mid-May in Taiwan, with 11,694 confirmed cases and 308 deaths as of Tuesday.
Expressing regret over the loss of life, Chang acknowledged that Taiwan's 2.6 percent mortality rate is higher than the world average of 2.16 percent.
However, he ascribed Taiwan's higher fatality rate to the age of the patients, most of whom he said had also suffered from chronic diseases.
According to Chang, as many as 40 percent of Taiwan's COVID-19 patients in the current wave are seniors and a majority have had chronic diseases like hypertension, diabetes or cardiovascular problems.
Any of these illnesses can trigger a higher death rate among COVID-19 patients, he noted.
A total of 92 percent of COVID-19 patients in Taiwan who died between May 11 and June 7 were older than 60, while 83 percent of those had at least a chronic disease, he said.
Another factor is that the capacity of medical centers and regional hospitals assigned to receive COVID-19 patients has been pushed to the limit by the sudden influx of patients in critical condition, he said.
The local medical care system has been put under extreme pressure due to the recent wave of COVID-19 infections, he added.
