The President of the United States, Donald Trump, threatens “retaliation” if India does not offer a medicine considered a possible cure for the coronavirus.
In a press conference from the White House, Trump emphasized on Monday that New Delhi should issue orders for Hydroxychloroquine exports, an antimalarial drug in clinical trial as a treatment for the new coronavirus, called COVID-19.
The US president said he had asked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to issue orders to lift restrictions on the export of this drug after New Delhi banned its exports over the weekend.
“I spoke to him on Sunday morning, I said we would appreciate it if he let our supply out (…) If he doesn’t let it out, that would be fine, but of course there may be retaliation, why not?” Trump stated.
The White House occupant has repeatedly cited Hydroxychloroquine as a “game changer” that will help treat cases of COVID-19, but the drug has not yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the body that oversees the marketing of medicines in the USA.
India, one of the world’s largest exporters of Hydroxychloroquine – long used in patients with malaria and severe arthritis – has approved its use for people at high risk of coronavirus infection, including healthcare workers, as it works to contain the outbreak.
The new virus, which was first detected in China, has already affected every country in the world. The United States with more than 367,000 people occupies the first place on the list of the most infected and has shown that it is not capable of controlling this lethal pandemic.
After weeks of minimizing the severity of the new coronavirus and mocking the concerns raised about it, Trump finally turned his hand to the unleashed crisis and in mid-March declared a state of emergency as the pandemic spread throughout the country and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a warning.
Trump’s management in the face of the pandemic has caused his popularity to drastically drop, since most US citizens disapprove the way in which the president has handle the health crisis.
ftn / rha / msm / mkh
Featured image: US President Donald Trump speaks to the press at the White House, April 6, 2020. (Photo: AFP)
Source URL: HispanTV (use VPN in the USA)
Translated by JRE/EF
