Coronavirus R rate drops to below 1 in England

Today marks a milestone in the advance against COVID-19. A UK grandmother has become the first person in the world to be given the Pfizer COVID-19 jab as part of a mass vaccination programme. This is not the only cause for celebration. A new review of the efficacy of vitamin C shows that the vitamin offers potent protection against the pathogen.

The key finding from a paper published in the journal Nutrients today is that vitamin C can save the lives of those badly infected with COVID-19 and make symptoms of milder infections less severe.

Other findings include:

• Many severely infected patients have such low vitamin C levels they are suffering from scurvy
• A controlled trial found high dose vitamin C more effective than a steroid
• The vitamin C level of patients in intensive care predicts their chances of survival
• Humans are one of the few animals that cannot make vitamin C.

The conclusions are based on results from more than 100 studies, including a gold-standard RCT (Randomised Controlled Trial)which showed that Vitamin C could slash the death rate of patients in intensive care units by 68 percent.

The patients received vitamin C or sterile water from a drip.

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A similar trial comparing a steroid drug (dexamethasone) with a placebo in June was hailed as a success. It reduced deaths by just three percent.

The amount of vitamin C needed to reduce deaths and time on ventilators in ICUs ranged between six and 24 grams a day, says lead author and nutritionist Patrick Holford.

Another author, Dr Anitra Carr, explained why such high doses are needed: “When you get a severe infection, your body uses up vitamin C at a much faster rate in order to support the immune system.

“That’s because humans are one of the few animals that can’t make vitamin C, so we can’t increase supplies when needed.”

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Dr Carr, who is an associate professor at the University of Otago in New Zealand, points out that only animals that don’t make vitamin C – primates, guinea pigs and bats – are susceptible to COVID-19.

The finding is bolstered by studies showing that most COVID-19 patients coming into ICUs already have very low vitamin C levels.

“Their levels are often undetectable,” says co-author Professor Paul Marik, Chief of Critical Care Medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School.

“That’s what you see in patients with scurvy. This infection induces scurvy. We can predict how likely patients are to survive by their level of vitamin C.”

Marik explains that to stop scurvy you need high doses of vitamin C. It is also vital for damping down the dangerous inflammation that develops as COVID-19 progresses and can be fatal.

By combining vitamin C with steroids and anticoagulant drugs Professor Marik and others have reduced the death rate of critically ill COVID-19 patients to less than five percent.

“No-one is dying who doesn’t have both a pre-existing end-stage disease and is over 85 years old,” he says.

Coronavirus – main symptoms

According to the NHS, the main symptoms of coronavirus are:

• A high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
• A new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or three or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
• A loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you’ve noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal.

“Most people with coronavirus have at least one of these symptoms,” explains the health body.

If you have any of the main symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19), get a test as soon as possible. Stay at home until you get the result.

You and anyone you live with should stay at home and not have visitors until you get your test result – only leave your home to have a test.

Anyone in your support bubble should also stay at home if you have been in close contact with them since your symptoms started or during the 48 hours before they started.

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