Bahrain and
Belgium report their hospitals are successfully treating coronavirus
patients with the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine touted by
President Trump as a possible breakthrough in the pandemic.
The Kingdom of Bahrain's Supreme Council of Health chairman
said his country was among the first to use the drug and that its impact has been "profound," according
to the Bahrain News Agency.
Dr. Shaikh Mohamed, who leads the National Taskforce for
Combating COVID-19, was also quoted by the news agency as saying hydroxychloroquine was administered according to the same regimens
as those used in China and South Korea.
The first
COVID-19 case in Bahrain was reported on Feb. 21, and hydroxychloroquine was
first administered to patients showing virus symptoms on Feb.
26.
Bahrain
has 419 deaths as a result of the virus, behind Croatia with
442 deaths worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Research
Center.
Hydroxychloroquine
is used to prevent and treat malaria and is administered to patients
with rheumatoid arthritis or lupus.
Meanwhile in Europe, another U.S. ally, Brussels, is reporting similar early success with
the same drug and is taking steps to ensure its availability for the sickest
coronavirus patients.
“Using the limited stocks of these medicines for unnecessary or
unjustified preventive treatments jeopardizes the availability of these
medicines for patients who need them: chronic patients and hospital patients
seriously affected by Covid-19,” Belgium's Federal Agency for Medicines and
Health Products said this week.
Belgium,
like the United States, has begun a longer-term clinical trial on the efficacy
of using Hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 patients.
