Donald Trump says he is taking hydroxychloroquine as anti-coronavirus measure
US president Donald Trump has revealed that he has been taking malaria treatment hydroxychloroquine as a preventative medicine against coronavirus despite medical warnings against the drug.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, the president revealed that he has been taking the treatment for the past week and a half.
Trump was an early advocate of using the drug as a treatment for coronavirus, but studies showed that it was not helpful.
The US Food and Drug Administration subsequently issued a warning about the use of the treatment.
It said that it was aware that some patients who had been treated with the drug had suffered “serious heart rhythm problems” as a result.
The septuagenarian said that he had asked the White House doctor whether he could take hydroxychloroquine as prophylactic against Covid-19.
In a memo, the physician in question, Sean Conley, said: “After numerous discussions he and I had regarding the evidence for and against the use of hydroxychloroquine, we concluded the potential benefit from treatment outweighed the relative risks”.
The Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, said that she would “rather” the president did not take a treatment that had not been approved by scientists.
She said: “He’s our president. I would rather he not be taking something that has not been approved by the scientists, especially in his age group and his, shall we say weight group what is morbidly obese, they say.”
Democrat majority leader Chuck Schumer said that Trump’s move was “reckless” and would give people “false hope”.