The US has ratified the anti-malarial drug chloroquine for use as a treatment against the new Coronavirus.

President Donald Trump made this known on Thursday.

Trump said the availability of the drug would be hasten in order to check the spread of the virulent virus.

“We’re going to be able to make that drug available almost immediately, and that’s where the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has been so great,” Trump told reporters.

“They’ve gone through the approval process — it’s been approved. They took it down from many, many months to immediate. So we’re going to be able to make that drug available by prescription.”

AFP