Coronavirus updates: Trump criticizes WHO as U.S. death toll nears 13,000
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President Trump harshly criticized the World Health Organization during his daily Coronavirus Task Force briefing Tuesday. He accused the organization of being "very China-centric" and "wrong about a lot of things" and said he would look into putting a "very powerful hold on" U.S. funding.
Meanwhile, New York reported its deadliest day yet with 731 fatalities, Governor Andrew Cuomo said in his daily briefing. By Tuesday, 5,489 New Yorkers had lost their lives to COVID-19. Almost 13,000 people have died across the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of confirmed U.S. cases was on the brink of crossing the 400,000 mark.
Hospitals are at breaking point even as many parts of the U.S. are still seeing an alarming rise in infections.
Worldwide, more than 82,000 people have succumbed to COVID-19. Japan is bracing for a major increase in cases. In Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson remains in intensive care due to the new coronavirus.
Detailed information from the CDC on coronavirus treatment and prevention.
Will not be forgotten’: Donald Trump tweets thank you to PM Modi, Indians for allowing export of Covid-19 cure drug
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday showered praises on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Indian people on Twitter, his response to the Indian government easing restrictions on export of anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine that he has said would be a game-changer in the battle against Covid-19 pandemic.
Trump’s tweet, which effusively thanked India for lifting the export restrictions on the drug, was the second occasion in 24 hours that he had applauded PM Modi for his decision. It was a sharp contrast to his interaction with reporters this week when Trump threatened “retaliation” if the restrictions weren’t lifted.
“Extraordinary times require even closer cooperation between friends. Thank you India and the Indian people for the decision on HCQ. Will not be forgotten! Thank you Prime Minister @NarendraModi for your strong leadership in helping not just India, but humanity, in this fight!,” President Trump tweeted.
Trump’s tweet reflected the sentiment that he had expressed in an interview with Fox News a few hours earlier. In this one, he had spoken about buying more than 29 million tablets of the drug, his conversation with PM Modi on Saturday and India’s success in handling the pandemic.
“I asked him (PM Modi) if he would release it? He was great. He was really good. You know they put a stop because they wanted it for India. But there is a lot of good things coming from that. Lot of people looking at it and saying, you know I don’t hear bad stories, I hear good stories. And I don’t hear anything where it was causing death,” he told the TV news channel in the interview.
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India is the world’s largest manufacturer of hydroxychloroquine, producing nearly 70 percent of the world’s supply. The demand for the drug, which is also used by patients of rheumatoid arthritis, was boosted after a small placebo-controlled clinical trial in China demonstrated that the anti-malarial drug shortened the duration and reduced the severity of cough, fever and pneumonia in patients with mild and moderate disease.
India banned the export of hydroxychloroquine and any formulation containing it on March 25. Last week the ban was expanded to cover exports from special economic zones, blocking pending orders, including from the US.
Also Read: In PM Modi’s hydroxychloroquine export order, a Covid-19 message to the world
Donald Trump spoke to PM Modi to lift the restrictions on Saturday. The same day, PM Modi received phone calls from Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro as well. In all, requests were received from 20 countries to lift this restriction.
On Monday, a committee of bureaucrats which looked into the issue decided to rescind the restriction placed on Saturday by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade and let the department of pharmaceuticals decide.
India’s National Taskforce for Covid-19 only recommends the use of hydroxychloroquine for infections among “asymptomatic healthcare workers involved in the care of suspected or confirmed cases of Covid-19” and “asymptomatic household contacts of laboratory confirmed cases”.
The Indian Council of Medical Research says hydroxychloroquine has been found to be effective against coronavirus in laboratory studies and in-vivo studies. “Its use in prophylaxis is derived from available evidence of benefit as treatment and supported by pre-clinical data.”
After Trump, Brazil's Bolsonaro thanks Modi for supply of hydroxychloroquine
NEW DELHI: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro thanked India for the “timely assistance" in releasing ingredi NEW ents for anti-malarial drug, hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), seen as useful in the treatment of covid-19.
"As a result of my direct conversation with the Prime Minister of India, we will receive, until Saturday, raw material to continue producing hydroxychloroquine, so that we can treat covid-19 patients, as well as malaria, lupus and arthritis," Bolsonaro said an his address to the nation on Wednesday.
"I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Indian people for this very timely assistance to the Brazilian people."
Brazil has the highest number of covid-19 cases in South America with more than 14,000 infections and almost 700 deaths.
Bolsonaro was one of the leaders Prime Minister Modi spoke to over the weekend in his continuing interaction with world leaders since the outbreak of the pandemic. During his conversation, Bolsonaro had put forth his request to Modi to release the ingredients for HCQ that India had placed a ban on.
In a letter following his phone conversation with Modi, Bolsonaro invoked the Ramayan, comparing HCQ to the Sanjeevani booti (herb) in the epic.
“Just as Lord Hanuman brought the holy medicine from the Himalayas to save the life of Lord Rama’s brother Laksmana, and Jesus healed those who were sick and restored the sight of Bartimeu, India and Brazil will overcome this global crisis," President Bolronaro had said in his letter to Prime Minister Modi.
India is the largest manufacturer and exporter of hydroxychloroquine in the world. But on Saturday, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) had banned exports of HCQ and its ingredients, given the rapid rise in cases of covid-19 in India.
On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump thanked PM Modi and the people of India for lifting curbs on the export of hydroxychloroquine.
"Extraordinary times require even closer cooperation between friends. Thank you India and the Indian people for the decision on HCQ. Will not be forgotten! Thank you Prime Minister @NarendraModi for your strong leadership in helping not just India, but humanity, in this fight!" Trump had said in a post on Twitter on Wednesday.
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