Health DG Reveals That ‘Antimalarial Drug’ Has Been Used To Cure Covid-19 Since First Wave

It’s Day 13 of the Movement Control Order and we hope Malaysians are doing their part by staying indoors. Unfortunately, more cases are being reported with the latest update as of 29th March, is 150 new cases and 8 deaths. A piece of good news, however, we’ve also had 388 cases of full recovery. Health Director-General, Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, told in his media conference yesterday that the recovery comes from using a medicine that’s typically used to cure Malaria.

He told Astro Awani that the medicine, Chloroquine, is anti-inflammatory and suitable to treat Covid-19 which has reportedly caused inflammation in the patients’ lower respiratory tract.

“When the COVID-19 virus attaches to the lower respiratory tract it causes inflammation, the virus will be replicated and this drug helps treat the inflammation.”

He even added that besides ‘Chloroquine’, a combination of  ‘Lopinavir, Ritonavir’ and Hydroxychloroquine has been used by the Ministry of Health since the first wave itself. The Health Director clarified however that even though the medicine has shown its effectiveness, more extensive research is still required.

If you happen to be worried about the increasing number of fatalities, Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah told that patients who died were either aged or had pre-existing conditions such as high blood pressure and kidney problems. The fatalities also happened when some patients only seek treatment when they developed breathing infections which are quite late.

We applaud the Health Director-General and the Health Ministry for their transparency in giving netizens necessary information and updates daily.

The information in this story is accurate as of press time. However, as the situation surrounding COVID-19 continues to evolve, it’s possible that some data have changed since publication. While WORLD OF BUZZ is trying to keep our stories as up-to-date as possible, we also encourage readers to stay informed on news and recommendations through other sources.

Also read: Chinese Experts Confirm That This Antimalarial Drug Is Effective Against The Coronavirus