The World Health Organization warns that countries could still face an “immediate second wave” if they accelerate the lifting of anti-pandemic measures with COVID-19. More than 5.5 million confirmed cases of coronavirus and 346,000 deaths have been reported worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) has said it will temporarily drop an anti-malarial drug – hydroxychloroquine – from its global study on the treatment of CoVID-19. The WHO has said it is doing so because its experts need to review all available evidence.
US President Donald Trump has previously said he was taking the drug to relieve symptoms if he became infected with the coronavirus, although its effect on the infection has not been proven. WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that based on the text in the scientific journal Lancet, it was decided to “temporarily pause” the study of that drug in their pilot study dealing with coronavirus-induced diseases. A report released last week found that people taking hydroxychloroquine had a higher risk of death and heart problems than those who did not.
