Scientists all around the world are racing against time to develop a vaccine, but the development has been slow.

However, scientists may have discovered a drug that could save the lives of those tested positive for the coronavirus.

Widely available

BBC reported that scientists have discovered a cheap and widely available drug that can help save the lives of patients infected by the virus.

Dexamethasone, a type of steroid treatment, is reportedly part of the world's biggest trial testing existing treatments to see if they also work on the coronavirus.

Scientists in England found that the drug could cut the risk of death by a third for patients on ventilators.

For those on oxygen support, the drug would cut deaths by up to a fifth.

In the trial led by a team from Oxford University, dexamethasone was administered on 2,000 COVID-19 patients, and compared against 4,000 who were not given the drug.

The drug was given either orally or through an IV.

The trial found that for patients on ventilators, it cut the risk of death from 40 per cent to 28 per cent and for patients needing oxygen, the percentage of death dropped from 25 per cent to 20 per cent.

The drug reportedly helps stop some of the damage that can happen to a person's body when their immune system goes into overdrive as it tries to fight off the coronavirus.

Chief investigator Prof Peter Horby told BBC that it's safe to conclude that dexamethasone is the "only drug so far that has been shown to reduce mortality".

And here's the best news: the cost to save a life is pretty cheap too!

Horby told the news portal that it costs about £5 (RM27) for a ten-day dexamethasone treatment per person, so overall, it takes only £35 (RM189) to save a life.

Although Horby has advised hospitals to should administer dexamethasone on COVID-19 patients, people should not go to the pharmacy and buy it on their own as "dexamethasone does not appear to help people with milder symptoms of coronavirus".