The World Health Organization today warned that the world has a "long way to go" before it can control the emerging Corona virus, despite the fact that many countries have taken initial steps to return to normalcy.
This coincides with the announcement by Russia - which is the second most affected country in the world after the United States - for "promising results" for tests on a new drug to treat the virus.
Mike Ryan, Executive Director of the WHO Emergency Program, today warned that the risks associated with the Corona epidemic are still significant at the national, regional and global levels.
He added - through an online press briefing - that there was a need for "a very large control" of the virus in order to reduce the current risk assessment.
On the other hand, the Russian Direct Investment Fund announced that faviravir, a drug recommended to treat coronavirus, showed promising results in early clinical trials in Russia.
The fund's CEO, Kirill Dimitriev, said that the results of tests of 60% of the 40 patients with Corona virus who took the faviravir tablets that were first developed in Japan under the name "Avigan" came negative within five days, explaining that the treatment can reduce the period of time needed to recover from the disease in half .
Andriy Ivashenko, a professor at the Russian Academy of Sciences and chairman of the Kemerar company which is conducting the experiments, said that the clinical trial of 330 patients infected with Corona virus will end by the end of May.
"The current production facilities of Kemerar will allow us to produce tens of thousands of treatment programs per month, which we hope and hope will be sufficient for the Russian Federation at a minimum," Ivashenko added.
He explained that the early tests showed that there are few side effects, noting that the drug is banned for pregnant women, and the use of Avijan in Japan has caused birth defects.
The Avigan drug, commonly known as "faviravir", was developed in the late 1990s by a company that was later bought by Fujifilm when it changed its activity to healthcare.
Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Company in India is also conducting experiments on faviravir.
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UNICEF warns
On the other hand, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned today that the Corona pandemic may have indirect damaging effects on poor countries, such as the death of six thousand children daily in the next six months.
According to the worst-case scenario of three in a Johns Hopkins University study, up to 1.2 million children under the age of five in 118 countries can die within six months due to hampering health coverage for efforts to combat the Covid-19 epidemic, according to a WHO statement.
These deaths will add to 2.5 million children in this age group who essentially die every six months in these countries.
UNICEF Director Henrietta Four said the report would eliminate "decades of progress made in reducing child and maternal mortality."
"We should not allow mothers and children to be additional victims of the fight against the virus," which has killed 290,000 people worldwide, she added in a statement.