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FILE PHOTO: A pharmacy worker shows pills of hydroxychloroquine used to treat the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at the CHR Centre Hospitalier Regional de la Citadelle Hospital in Liege, Belgium, April 22, 2020. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
GENEVA (Reuters) – The World Health Organization (WHO) is set to resume its trial of hydroxychloroquine for potential use against the new coronavirus, its head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday, after testing was suspended due to health concerns.
The U.N. body had paused its large study of the anti-malarial drug to treat COVID-19 due to fears it increased death rates and irregular heartbeats in patients.
But Tedros told an online media briefing that WHO experts had advised the continuation of all trials including hydroxychloroquine, whose highest-profile backer for its use against the coronavirus has been U.S. President Donald Trump.
WHO officials said they were especially worried about outbreaks in Latin America and in Haiti, one of the world’s poorest nations, where infections have been spreading rapidly.
The coronavirus has infected almost 3 million people in the Americas.
Reporting by Emma Farge and Michael Shields; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne
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