The new variant has been accelerated with the aim of protecting the nation's most vulnerable in the next few months. Health chiefs hope the move will reduce hospital admissions and reduce the pressure on the NHS, with Health Secretary Sajid Javid hailing a mammoth deal Antivirals being used to treat those who have been exposed to a virus, or alternatively to protect someone who has been exposed to being infected in the first place. They aim to stop the progression to more severe, or even critical, symptoms at an early stage. The treatments will be available from early next year and are expected to be effective against Omicron. The new orders are in addition to the 480,000 courses of molnupiravir and 250,000 courses of PF -- 07321332 ritonavir announced in October. Javid said that our booster programme continues at unparalleled pace and it is vital that we further bolster our national response to the virus by giving access to the world's best treatments. JUST IN: UK secures 313 m EU agreement with the help of the live fishing deal DONE.
This is a mammoth deal for the UK Government and patients across the country who are going to benefit from these antivirals over the coming months. If you're aged 50 and over or have an underlying health condition and you have a positive for COVID - 19, sign up to the study as soon as possible and take advantage of this remarkable treatment. The National Panoramic study, run by the University of Oxford in collaboration with GP hubs, has already shown that molnupiravir is being rolled out to hundreds of patients. Vitamin B12 deficiency: Stroke the soles of the feet to check if you have very low levels SYMPTOMS Expert warns of the white-looking fungal infection more prevalent in winter EXCLUSIVE Omicron: Two emerging 'common' symptoms of the Covid variant are now coming to light, according to BBC Radio 4Radio 4's World at One programme: There have been smallish trials conducted in people largely before the new variant has emerged, showing some exciting results. In the UK, we need more effectiveness studies in our current population, which is largely vaccinated and with the current variant circulating. We're doing a large scale trial to see if the results from the smaller efficacy studies play out in real-world clinical practice here in the UK at the moment. Prof Butler said when asked if it could be that GP would start prescribing antiviral drugs in a couple of months. I'm sure the NHS will be implementing very rapid plans for deployment at scale when that evidence is there. The deployment of the antiviral outside the clinical trial began last week in those at the highest risk, such as immunocompromised or cancer patients, after they tested positive. This group of patients received the antibody treatment sotrovimab Xevudy on Monday.