On Jun. 16, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that initial clinical trial results from the United Kingdom show dexamethasone, a corticosteroid, can be lifesaving for patients who are critically ill with COVID-19.

For patients on ventilators, the treatment was shown to reduce mortality by about one third, and for patients requiring only oxygen, mortality was cut by about one fifth, according to preliminary findings shared with WHO.