Pakistan to export chloroquine to allies amid COVID-19 pandemic

• One million chloroquine tablets will be sent to Saudi Arabia and the United States each, 500,000 to Turkey and Italy each.

Pakistan will export anti-malaria drug chloroquine to allies to help these countries combat the COVID-19 crisis.

As per details, the decision was made in a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan.

"The Cabinet also approved the export of chloroquine to the USA, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, UK, Italy, Qatar, and Kazakhstan as Pakistan has an additional stock of the drug," Special Assistant on Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan stated.

Pakistan has 40 million chloroquine tablets in stock and raw materials to produce more.

"One million chloroquine tablets will be sent to Saudi Arabia and the United States each, 500,000 to Turkey and Italy each, five million to the United Kingdom, 700,000 to Kazakhstan and 300,000 to Qatar," Awan said.

Global demands for hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine has increased after the drug showed positive results in fighting coronavirus-related lung infections.

Meanwhile, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has infected over 2.5 million worldwide and killed more than 175,000 persons.