Brazil President bats for HCQ after Trump said he takes unproven drug
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he has been taking anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine for over a week to prevent coronavirus infection even though it is not yet a proven treatment
FollowRio De Janeiro: Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro unveiled rules on Wednesday expanding the prescription of chloroquine, the predecessor of an anti-malarial drug promoted by US President Donald Trump, for coronavirus patients despite a lack of clinical proof that it is effective.
Chloroquine was already being used in Brazil for COVID-19 patients who are hospitalised in serious condition, and under the new regulations, it can be given to people with lighter symptoms such as abdominal pain, cough or fever, according to the health ministry.
“There is still no scientific evidence, but it is being monitored and used in Brazil and worldwide,” Bolsonaro, who has likened the virus to a “little flu” and feuded with local governments over their stay-at-home measures, said via his official Facebook page. “We are at war: ‘Worse than being defeated is the shame of not having fought.’”
More than 2,91,000 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Brazil, the third most in the world after the United States and Russia, and the announcement came a day after the country’s single-day death toll from the virus hit a new high of more than 1,100. Officials said on Wednesday that 888 more died in the subsequent 24 hours.
Trump has promoted treating COVID-19 with hydroxychloroquine, a variant considered less toxic and more effective than chloroquine, and he announced on Monday that he was taking the drug as a precaution. No large, rigorous studies have found the drug safe or effective for preventing or treating the virus.
Bolsonaro, a conservative populist and nationalist, has long expressed admiration for Trump and enthusiasm for hydroxychloroquine. Brazil’s new guidelines were approved by interim health minister general Eduardo Pazuello, who had no health experience prior to becoming the ministry’s number 2 official in April.
Pazuello’s appointment to the top job came after then-health minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta was fired last month for publicly supporting state Governors who shut down nonessential businesses and adopted other measures against the virus, and after Mandetta’s replacement, Nelson Teich, resigned last week. Teich did not explain why he left, but he had publicly disagreed with Bolsonaro over chloroquine.
Speaking to a group of street cleaners in the capital, Brasilia, Bolsonaro suggested on Wednesday that he has no plans to replace Pazuello, “This one is going to stay for a long time.”
Officials say over 19,000 people have died of the coronavirus in Brazil so far, and experts warn that low testing rates mean the true number of cases is far higher.
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