Nigeria reported two cases of chloroquine poisoning after U.S. President Donald Trump praised the anti-malaria drug as a treatment for the novel coronavirus.
Health officials are warning Nigerians against self-medicating after demand for the drug surged in Lagos, a city that’s home to 20 million people. Two people were hospitalized in Lagos for chloroquine overdoses, Oreoluwa Finnih, senior health assistant to the governor of Lagos, said in an interview.
“Please don’t panic,” she said via text message. “Chloroquine is still in a testing phase in combination with other medication and not yet verified as a preventive treatment or curative option.”
Please remember that the use of chloroquine and its derivatives for the management of coronavirus disease has NOT been validated and approved
Nigeria’s Centre for Disease Control warned that the World Health Organization hasn’t approved use of the drug against the virus. There are 46 confirmed cases of #COVID19 in Africa’s most populous country. 2 have been discharged with 1 death reported