LatinNews Daily - 08 June 2020

Brazil: On 31 May the White House published a joint statement with the Brazilian government regarding their co-operative efforts in the fight against coronavirus (Covid-19). It states that the two nations “stand in solidarity against the coronavirus”and in demonstration of this, the US government has sent 2m doses of hydroxychloroquine to Brazil and will also be sending 1,000 ventilators. The drug, the statement claims, “will be used as a prophylactic to help defend Brazil’s nurses, doctors, and healthcare professionals against the virus and will also be used as a therapeutic to treat Brazilians who become infected”. Both US President Donald Trump and Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro are advocators of the use of hydroxychloroquine to treat coronavirus, despite the World Health Organisation (WHO) discouraging its use and widespread uncertainty in the scientific community as to the drug’s potential benefits or harmful effects. The WHO suspended its own trial of the drug on 24 May citing that it recorded “a higher mortality rate and an increased frequency of irregular heartbeats” in the randomised patients who had been chosen to receive it.

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