Nigeria on Sunday warned about cases of chloroquine poisoning after the anti-Malaria drug was hailed as a possible cure for coronavirus, according to a report.
Health officials in the West Afrian nation confirmed on Sunday that two people were hospitalized in Lagos for overdoses of the anti-Malaria drug, which President Trump has touted as a potential treatment, Bloomberg reported.
Nigeria’s Center for Disease Control cautioned citizens from self-medicating with the drug, which is still undergoing testing for safety and effectiveness.
“[The World Health Orgniazation] has NOT approved the use of chloroquine for #COVID19 management,” the agency wrote on Twitter. “Scientists are working hard to confirm the safety of several drugs for this disease.”
Oreoluwa Finnih, senior health assistant to the governor of Lagos, also told Nigerians “not to panic” and use the drug.
“Chloroquine is still in a testing phase in combination with other medication and not yet verified as a preventive treatment or curative option,” Finnih told Bloomberg News.
President Trump tweeted on Saturday that:”HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE & AZITHROMYCIN, taken together, have a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine.”
He added that the FDA has “moved mountains” and that hopefully the treatment will be “put in use IMMEDIATELY.”
Nigeria has reported 27 cases of COVID-19 as it spreads to more than 300,000 people across the world, according to figures from John Hopkins University.
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