GENEVA (Reuters) – The World Health Organization (WHO) issued new clinical advice on Tuesday to treat patients with COVID-19, including those with persistent symptoms after recovery, and also said it advised using low doses of anticoagulants to prevent blood clots.
“The other novelties in the guide are that patients with COVID-19 at home should use pulse oximetry, that is, measure oxygen levels, so that you can identify if something at home is deteriorating. and it would be better to have hospital care, ”WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris said at a UN briefing in Geneva.
The WHO advised doctors to place patients in a position prone to their awakening, which is shown to improve oxygen flow, he said.
“The use of anticoagulants in low doses is also recommended to prevent the formation of blood clots in the blood vessels. We suggest the use of lower doses instead of higher doses, as higher doses can cause other problems.” , said Harris.
He added that a team of independent experts led by the WHO, currently in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the first human cases were detected in December 2019, will have to leave quarantine in the next two days to continue the his work with Chinese researchers on the origin of the virus.
He declined to comment on reports of delays in the deployment of vaccines in the European Union. He said he had no specific data and that the WHO’s priority was for health workers in all countries to be vaccinated in the first 100 days of the year.
AstraZeneca, which developed its shot with Oxford University, told the EU on Friday it could not reach the agreed supply targets until the end of March.
Reports by Stephanie Nebehay and Emma Farge