Is hydroxychloroquine a factor in South Korea’s relative success in fighting COVID-19?
Saturday, April 25, 2020
By Remaya Campbell
This Fact Brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
NO
Hydroxychloroquine is an anti-malarial drug prescribed for the treatment of lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. Its effect against COVID-19 has not been widely verified in clinical trials, and reports about it have been largely anecdotal and/or misinterpreted. South Korea is one of several countries in which hydroxychloroquine has been administered to some coronavirus patients. Studies exploring the drug’s effectiveness have yielded inconclusive results in the United States, France and China.
Public health authorities, including the World Health Organization, attribute South Korea’s relative success against COVID-19 to an early coordinated public-health response using testing, contact tracing and isolation of cases.
Sources
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
The Gigafact Project launched in May 2020 as an in-house team at Repustar to explore new ways to support more useful and productive conversations across social and digital media. Gigafact’s editorial team continues to collaborate with Repustar developers and researchers, working to improve formats, presentation standards and engagement strategies.
FACT BRIEF BY
