TOP US OFFICIAL WARNS AGAINST ‘PREMATURE REOPENING’

WASHINGTON: Anthony Fauci, a key figure in the Trump administration’s response to the Covid-19 epidemic, warned on Tuesday that “the consequences could be really serious” if the US economy reopens too quickly.

Fauci told the Senate health, labour and pensions committee, “There is no doubt, even under the best of circumstances, when you pull back on mitigation, you will see some cases appear. ” And if there is a rush to reopen without following guidelines, “my concern is we will start to see little spikes that might turn into outbreaks”, he said. “The consequences could be really serious.”

The director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious, who testified through video link as he is in self-isolation, had told The New York Times he planned to tell senators that rushed reopening could cause “needless suffering and death”.

“The major message that I wish to convey... is the danger of trying to open the country prematurely,” he wrote in an email ahead of the hearing.

HCQ SHOWS NO BENEFITS FOR PATIENTS: STUDY

A drug touted by US President Donald Trump as a gamechanger in the fight against Covid-19 showed no benefits for patients, according to a study conducted with more than 1,400 people in hospitals in New York.

According to a detailed study conducted by researchers at the University of Albany, the antimalarial medication Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) had no noticeable effect on patients, even when take together with the antibiotic azithromycin. The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.