US president Donald Trump has again touted hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for coronavirus, in conflict with health advice from his own regulatory body.
Speaking in the White House on Tuesday, Mr Trump said “many doctors think it’s extremely successful”.
“I happen to believe in it,” he said. “I have taken it. I happen to think it works in the early stages. I think that front line medical people believe that too.”
Mr Trump, who revealed in May that he was taking a 14-day course of the treatment, said his belief in the drug was “based on a lot of reading and a lot of knowledge about it”. He claimed that it was “politically” unpopular, but said: “I don’t think you lose something by doing it.”
Mr Trump’s comments put him at odds with the US Food and Drug Administration, which has warned of serious heart problems in patients with Covid-19 being treated with hydroxychloroquine. Official advice from the regulatory body warns that the drug has not been shown to be “safe and effective for treating or preventing Covid-19”. Though it is used in treating other illnesses including lupus, it has not been approved to treat Covid-19.
The US National Institute of Health has also advised against taking the drug as a treatment for coronavirus.
During the briefing Mr Trump said he had a good relationship with infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci, but he questioned why his own popularity was not as high as the country’s top immunologist.
“He has a high approval rating ... so why don’t I have a high approval rating?”, he asked. Noting that both Dr Fauci and coronavirus task force leader Deborah Birx “works with us”, he added, “yet they’re highly thought of but nobody likes me. It can only be my personality”.
Face masks
Mr Trump’s defence of hydroxychloroquine comes a day after Twitter removed a video of a group of doctors arguing that the drug is a treatment for coronavirus and advising against wearing face masks that was tweeted by Mr Trump’s son, Donald Trump jnr.
Twitter froze his account for 12 hours, accusing him of sharing disinformation about treating coronavirus.
Thought the president retweeted his son’s tweet, Twitter said it was not taking action against Mr Trump himself because he had retweeted rather than directly linking to the material.
Though the US president is Twitter’s most high-profile user, the social media company recently flagged some of his tweets, including one for glorifying violence.
Mr Trump also claimed during the press conference that large parts of the United States were “corona free”.
More than 149,000 deaths have been reported in the US from coronavirus, while the country has recorded more than 4.3 million cases.
Florida posted a new one-day record for coronavirus deaths, announcing 200 more deaths on Tuesday. Mr Trump was forced last week to cancel next month’s Republican National Convention in Jacksonville due to rising infection rates in the state.
While Mr Trump confirmed at his press conference that he would deliver an acceptance speech for the Republican nomination, he did not say if he would appear in Charlotte, North Carolina where Republican delegates will be meeting. “We will be announcing it soon,” he said.
Mr Trump’s rival for the presidency, Joe Biden, said on Tuesday he would make a decision on his vice-presidential candidate by the end of next week. Mr Biden has committed to choosing a female candidate.
