WHO halts hydroxychloroquine, HIV drugs' trials for COVID-19 patients

Geneva: The World Health Organisation on Saturday has halted its trials of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine and combination of HIV drug lopinavir/ritonavir for the treatment of hospitalised Covid-19 patients after they failed to reduce the death rate, Al Jazeera reported.

“These interim trial results show that hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir produce little or no reduction in the mortality of hospitalised Covid-19 patients when compared to the standard of care. Solidarity trial investigators will interrupt the trials with immediate effect,” the WHO was quoted as saying in a statement.

The WHO has added that this decision will now affect the other studies where the drugs are being used for non-hospitalised or as prophylaxis.

Meanwhile, the WHO has reported a total of 212,326 new cases of coronavirus globally in 24 hours.

The agency further stated that 5,134 deaths have been reported in past 24 hours, taking the total toll to 523,011.

The WHO had declared the Covid-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11.