NHS home Covid pill slashes deaths by 88%

NYPD’s ocean of mourning for fallen comrade

A ‘GAME-changing’ pill which cures Covid at home will be available on the NHS to at-risk patients from next month.

The Government yesterday announced thousands of vulnerable Britons who catch coronavirus will be offered Paxlovid, an antiviral drug made by Pfizer, from February 10.

Studies show the drug slashes the risk of hospital admission or death by 88 per cent if it is taken within the first five days of symptoms appearing.

The Government said it has ordered 2.75million courses of the Paxlovid treatment and they hope it will save thousands of lives as Britain ‘learns to live with Covid’.

The drug is the second antiviral to be rolled out on the NHS after molnupiravir, which has been in use in the UK since December.

Antivirals work by stopping Covid replicating during the early stage of infection, preventing it progressing into severe disease.

The pills are taken at home and are offered to those considered to be at highest risk, including the immunocompromised, cancer patients and those with Down’s syndrome, as soon as they test positive. The UK has bought more antivirals per head than any other country in Europe, with more than 4.98million courses ordered so far.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said: ‘Our pharmaceutical defences are crucial as we learn to live with Covid-19 and the UK is leading the way, especially when it comes to the use of cutting-edge antivirals.

‘This is an important milestone – especially as Paxlovid has been shown in clinical trials to reduce the risk of hospitalisation or death for vulnerable patients by 88 per cent, meaning potentially thousands of lives could be saved.’ Latest data shows cases have been falling since the Omicron wave peaked on January 4, when 218,724 cases were recorded.

Yesterday there were 89,176 reported new infections and 277 deaths. Hospital admissions are also falling and there are 16,149 patients in hospital with Covid – the lowest since January 2.

Of these, just 549 are on ventilators in intensive care, the lowest figure since July reflecting how Omicron causes significantly milder symptoms.

However, officials have warned a new sub-variant of Omicron called BA.2 is increasing rapidly and is more infectious than the ‘original’ Omicron strain – BA.1.

Experts expect it to be the dominant strain in the UK within weeks but said there is no reason to panic as vaccines work just as well against it and there is no evidence it is more severe.

Dr Susan Hopkins, chief medical advisor for the UK Health Security Agency, said: ‘Although hospitalisations and deaths remain low, cases are still high in some areas and some age groups so it’s important we continue to act cautiously as restrictions are lifted.’

TECH tycoon Mike Lynch has lost the UK’s biggest civil fraud claim in a battle with US giant Hewlett Packard over his former company Autonomy.

The £3.7 billion defeat makes it more likely the scandalhit entrepreneur will now be extradited to the US – where he faces more than a dozen charges.

A High Court judge yesterday ruled that Dr Lynch masterminded an elaborate scheme to cook Autonomy’s books before it was sold to HP in 2011 for £8.3 billion. HP was forced to write down the value of the company by £6.8 billion a few months later.

The judgment was delivered hours before Priti Patel was due to decide whether to extradite Dr Lynch. The Home Secretary had until midnight to make a decision.

Dr Lynch, 56, could spend up to 20 years in prison if he is found guilty in the US. He denies all the charges against him and claims HP failed to do proper research when it bought Autonomy.

Dr Lynch’s team has called for the extradition to be blocked on grounds that the claims against him mostly concern actions in the UK and must be dealt with by the British justice system.

His team has also argued he could suffer inhumane conditions that would take a severe toll on his health if he was transferred.

But lawyers for the US government say he ‘aimed dishonest activities at the US on a monumental scale’ and should not be ‘immune from the American justice system’.

If Miss Patel agrees to extradite Dr Lynch, he would have 14 days to appeal – which could lead to another lengthy court process.

It is a dramatic fall from grace for the UK’s most successful tech entrepreneur, who was previously dubbed Britain’s answer to Bill Gates.

HP, now Hewlett Packard Enterprise, sued Dr Lynch and Autonomy’s former finance boss Sushovan Hussain for £3.7 billion.

Hussain was convicted in the US in 2019 and jailed for five years. He has subsequently lost an appeal against that conviction.

Yesterday’s ruling is the latest stage in a ten-year legal wrangle over who was to blame for the disastrous takeover, which cost HP’s shareholders billions of pounds. Kelwin Nicholls, of law firm Clifford Chance, representing Dr Lynch, said he was already planning to appeal against the civil ruling. Mr Nicholls said: ‘Today’s outcome is disappointing and Dr Lynch intends to appeal.

‘We will study the full judgment over the coming weeks. We note the judge’s concerns over the reliability of some of HP’s witnesses.’

The judge said HP had ‘substantially succeeded’ in its various claims against the two men – but added that the company was likely to receive ‘substantially less’ than the £3.7 billion it claimed in damages.

Justice Robert Hildyard said Dr Lynch was aware that Autonomy was engaged in dishonest practices and its accounts were false.

The married father of two turned ground-breaking research made during his PhD at Cambridge University into the foundation of Autonomy, which became a FTSE 100listed company.

The civil judgment was not expected to be released yesterday. Its outcome is a particularly hard blow for Dr Lynch as he had been hoping it would exonerate him and increase his chances of Miss Patel ruling in his favour.

The Home Secretary was supposed to decide on Dr Lynch’s fate last year but requested an extension until March specifically so she could consider the outcome of the case.

She was refused the extension, but Dr Lynch launched his own appeal.

A judge ruled against the extension earlier this week – but yesterday’s surprise announcement meant Miss Patel could take it into account.

‘Dramatic fall from grace’