Shafaq News / A study published on Tuesday, by Nature magazine, showed that an anti-viral drug called "Remdesivir" was effective in the prevention of respiratory symptoms in Macaque monkeys deliberately infected with Covid-19.

Healthcare authorities warranted the emergency use of the Gilead company's product for severely ill cases of Covid-19 in the United States, India and South Korea. Some European countries also cleared using the drug under compassionate programs.

Trials on humans are still ongoing and preliminary data has shown the drug helped patients recover more quickly from the illness.

The authors of the paper said that the macaques that received the drug exhibited no signs of the disease and less damage to the lungs.