US President Donald Trump revealed on Monday evening that he had taken a drug called malaria hydroxychloroquine, which he prescribes to treat coronavirus, despite medical warnings that it will be used as a preventive drug against the virus.
"I took it during the past week and a half, at the rate of one tablet per day," Trump told reporters.
Trump added that he had no symptoms from him.
"I take one pill every day," Trump said on a working occasion in the White House, in what appears to be a spontaneous statement. I've been eating it for a week and a half now and I'm still here. ”
When asked about the reason for his treatment, the President replied: "I take it because I hear very good things about it."
He added that he wanted to be transparent. "I just want to be open to the American people," he said, while insisting that the drug will not cause negative effects.
For weeks, the President strongly advocated the use of "hydroxychloroquine" during the height of the pandemic, although there is no concrete scientific evidence to support its effectiveness.
When infection rates begin to stabilize, stop promoting the drug as is often the case.
The US Drug Regulatory Authority has warned against using the drug outside of clinical trials or through certain hospital settings.
Studies have warned that the drug may be ineffective and could cause heart problems in some patients.
The US President, along with others, had described this anti-inflammatory drug as a "potential game changer" after preliminary studies in the laboratory showed he might be able to fight the emerging corona virus.
However, it appears that many subsequent studies, including one funded by the US government, have disappointed the possibility that "hydroxychloroquine" will be allowed to treat coronary patients.
In the first study published last Friday, researchers in France monitored 181 hospital patients with pneumonia due to corona and requiring oxygen.
84 of them were treated with the drug "hydroxychloroquine" and the rest were not given the drug, but they did not find a big difference between the results of the two groups.
The authors of the study, published in the BMG magazine, said that hydroxychloroquine is receiving global attention as a possible treatment for "Covid-19" because of the positive results of small studies.
And last Friday, two studies showed that treatment of Covid-19 patients with hydroxychloroquine malaria had no positive effect and caused other health complications for them.