People in the UK could be offered pills to treat Covid at home from autumn this year thanks to a new antivirals taskforce being set up by No10.

Boris Johnson today said he will assemble a team of scientists to find ways for people to recover from the virus without going into hospital because the UK must 'learn to live with this disease, as we live with other diseases'.

No drugs have been decided on but the government is already in talks with pharmaceutical firms about 'promising' antiviral treatments being developed, and officials are keen to get new drugs that aren't already used.  

Most research so far has focused on saving hospital patients and there are currently no at-home therapies for the infection that are routinely used by the NHS.

People who aren't severely ill are generally told to rest and take paracetamol or ibuprofen.

Researchers discovered that the asthma steroid budesonide could cut people's recovery time by three days if they used a £15 inhaler twice a day.
Medical chiefs said there wasn't enough evidence to make it the standard care but GPs can take it upon themselves to prescribe it to older patients.

Now ministers are banking on experts finding at least two cheap treatments that people can have delivered and take at home from later this year.

They will be offered to people who have tested positive for Covid or who have been in close contact with an infected person - if they live with them, for example.

The panel will be made up of government staff, academic experts and members of pharmaceutical companies and the chair's job will be publicly advertised instead of hired internally.

They are committed to finding 'novel antiviral medicines', the Department of Health said, meaning drugs not currently being used by the NHS or sold commercially are being pushed through clinical trials over the summer.

Boris Johnson said the drugs could 'provide another vital defence against any future increase in infections and save more lives', and there are hopes they will help stop the new variants making people seriously ill - mutated strains make it more likely that someone will get ill even after vaccination.

The PM said in a Downing Street press conference today: 'This means, for example, that if you test positive there might be a tablet you could take at home to stop the virus in its tracks and significantly reduce the chance of infection turning into more severe disease.

Or if you're living with someone who has tested positive, there might be a pill you could take for a few days to stop you getting the disease yourself.'