The Ministry Brazilian of Health announced on Monday that it would maintain its recommendation to use hydroxychloroquine to treat the new coronavirus, despite the World Health Organization (WHO) decision to temporarily suspend clinical trials with this medication as a precaution.
“We remain very calm and serene, and there will be no changes” in our guidelines, said Mayra Pinheiro, secretary for labor management and health education, at a press conference in Brasilia.
Under pressure from President Jair Bolsonaro, the Ministry of Health in Brazil, the country hardest hit by coronavirus in Latin America, released a document last week that expanded recommendations for the use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine including mild cases of Covid-19 despite the lack of conclusive evidence of its effectiveness.
Wave of Critics
The move sparked criticism in the Brazilian scientific community.
WHO announced Monday it has suspended “Temporarily” as a precaution, clinical trials with hydroxychloroquine which it is carrying out with its partners in several countries.
This decision taken on Saturday follows the publication ofa study the day before in the medical journal The Lancet judging ineffective even harmful the use of chloroquine or its derivatives like hydroxychloroquine against Covid-19, said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
With more than 363,200 cases and more than 22,660 deaths, according to the latest official reports, Brazil (210 million inhabitants) is the country most affected by the pandemic in Latin America and the second in the world behind the United States. United in number of confirmed cases.
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