Donald Trump is full of praise for this antimalarial treatment, chroloquine, on which there is a lot of hope in the fight against the coronavirus. "There is a good chance that it could have a huge impact. It would be a godsend if it worked. It would really be a game-changer. We will see," said the president in his daily press briefing. The World Health Organization (WHO) calls for caution regarding chloroquine because of the small number of patients who have used this treatment.
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Chloroquine is an inexpensive antimalarial used for several decades and marketed in particular under the name of Nivaquine. This treatment is often recommended when planning to travel to an area infested with the malaria parasite, transmitted by mosquitoes. In France, the High Council of Public Health ruled on Monday that chloroquine could be administered to patients suffering from "severe forms" of Covid-19, but should not be used for "less severe" forms, according to the Minister of Health Olivier Véran.
Man died after taking chloroquine
Donald Trump notably relayed on Twitter on Monday an article devoted to a man in Florida who assures that the antimalarial drug "saved his life". But according to an NGO working in the health field, a man in his sixties died in Arizona after ingesting chloroquine phosphate. Asked by the NBC News chain, his wife, who was also hospitalized, explained that the idea came to them after seeing the Republican president extol the virtues of chloroquine during a press briefing. "They kept saying it was approved for other things. Trump said it was almost like a cure," she said. The couple consumed a much too high dose of chloroquine phosphate: one teaspoon each according to her.
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The Trump government has also announced that tests in the form of self-tests will be available "within a week". These individual tests "can be retrieved from clinics and drive-in sites," said vice president Mike Pence. "It will speed up the process, of course. But it will also reduce the risks for health care professionals who are exposed to the coronavirus," he added.