Suicide attack on security convoy in Somalia kills 8

Corticosteroids should now be the first-line treatment for critically ill patients, the authors added. The only other drug shown to be effective in seriously ill patients, and only modestly at that, is remdesivir.

Steroids like dexamethasone, hydrocortisone and methylprednisolone are often used by doctors to tamp

MOGADISHU - Police in

down the body’s immune

Somalia have confirmed the

system, alleviating inflammation, swelling and pain.

death of eight civilians in a

Many Covid-19 patients die not of the virus, but of the

car bombing in the capital

body’s overreaction to the infection.

Mogadishu, state television

The analysis of pooled data found that steroids

has reported.

were linked with a one-third reduction in deaths among

Some 17 other people have

Covid-19 patients. Dexamethasone produced the

been wounded, including 13

strongest results: a 36 percent drop in deaths in 1,282

children from a school near the

patients treated in three separate trials.

blast scene.

In June, researchers

An al-Shabab suicide bomber driving an explosives-laden vehicle targeted a convoy of a private security firm, Duguf, which is contracted to protect the United Nations.

The police did not say if UN staff were hurt in the attack.

Local media reports said the blast occurred during the morning rush hour near the busy Kilometre Four junction.

The al-Qaeda-linked alShabab militants have confirmed carrying out the attack. Pro-al-Shabab media sources

militants targeted “white military officers/”

Al-Shabab frequently targets security forces and government officials in Mogadishu. – BBC.