US expedites search for cure as infections near 800,000

WASHINGTON: With close to 800,000 confirmed patients and 41,500 deaths, the United States on Monday expedited its search for a cure for the respiratory disease that has also killed almost170,000 people across the globe.

In New York, hospitals completed their trials of a malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to determine if it also cures the disease known as Covid-19. New York remains the epicentre of this deadly disease with almost half of the national deaths and infections.

Test results were sent to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday to determine if this medicine can be used to cure Covid-19 patients as well.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said at a televised news conference on Monday that the first tranche includes results from 20 New York hospital. Last month. US President Donald Trump urged US hospitals to use hydroxychloroquine for treating Covid-19 patients, claiming that it had “tremendous promise” and was also harmless.

Some physicians, however, warned that the drug still needs to be tested to see if it worked and was safe.

Also, physicians and researchers indicated on Monday that a Covid-19 vaccine could be ready for experimental use on high-risk groups much earlier than the official 12- to 18-month timeframe.

Media reports suggest that an experimental vaccine could be ready “within weeks or months” for high-risk groups, such as health workers. Researchers told various media outlets that the vaccine would be used under emergency rules developed by drug regulatory agencies and the World Health Organisation during the recent Ebola epidemics in Africa.

Two major pharmaceutical companies GSK and Sanofi plan to try their vaccines on human patients late this year and to seek permission for regulatory use in the second half of 2021. Another international firm, Pfizer pushed up its schedule for starting human trials in August.

In the absence of a dependable cure, authorities across the world depend on social-distancing to prevent the spread of this deadly virus.

The lockdown, that began almost two months ago, has decimated the global economy, and created unprecedented unemployment. The International Monetary Fund warned last week that protests could erupt across the world if immediate steps were not taken to ease up economic impact of the pandemic.

More than half the world’s population is still under some mandatory confinement, but several countries now plan to reopen schools and businesses over the coming weeks.

Anti-lockdown protests have been held at many places, but in the United States President Trump is also supporting the protesters. He fears that an economic depression could cause him to lose November’s presidential election.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who leads the National Governors Association, is also a Republican but he criticized the president for fanning protests for political gains.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has reminded countries beginning to ease restrictions that infections could spike again if life returns to normal too quickly.