The World Health Organization(WHO) hailed encouraging results from researchers looking into potential COVID-19 treatments using a low-cost steroid, calling it a "lifesaving scientific breakthrough."

According to foreign media, researchers led by a team from the University of Oxford administered the widely available steroid dexamethasone to more than two-thousand severely ill COVID-19 patients. Among those who could only breathe with the help of a ventilator, the drug reportedly reduced deaths by 35 percent.

Calling the study results "great news," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday that he congratulates the British government, the University of Oxford, and the many hospitals and patients in Britain who have contributed to this lifesaving scientific breakthrough.

Britain's Health Secretary Matt Hancock said that Britain will immediately start giving dexamethasone to coronavirus patients, adding that the drug is inexpensive, can be stored at home and can be used immediately to save lives.