The government of France on Wednesday canceled a decree that allowed doctors in hospitals to administer hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for patients who are suffering severe forms of the coronavirus or COVID-19 disease.
he announcement is coming two days after the World Health Organization stated it was pausing a large trial of the drug used for the treatment of malaria because of the safety concerns.
France Bans Malaria Drug
British medical journal The Lancet has reported that patients getting hydroxychloroquine had increased death rates and irregular heartbeats, adding to a series of other disappointing results for the drug as a way to treat COVID-19. U.S. President Donald Trump and others have pushed hydroxychloroquine in recent months as a possible coronavirus treatment.
France decided at the end of March to allow the use of hydroxychloroquine in specific situations and in hospitals only. No vaccine or treatment has yet been approved to treat COVID-19 which has killed more than 350,000 people globally.
(With agency inputs)
