News Briefs

UWI, WHO collaborate on COVID-19 drug study

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC):

The University of the West Indies (UWI) and the World Health Organization (WHO) are collaborating on a large international project examining options for drugs to treat the deadly COVID-19, which has claimed more than 300,000 lives globally.

‘This is a large international trial that will be looking at options for therapy," said dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences at The UWI's St Augustine campus, Professor Terence Seemungal.

“We have a committee across the four countries (Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Jamaica, and The Bahamas) that is chaired by one of our colleagues, Professor Marvin Reid of the Mona campus,” Seemungal said.

He told reporters that apart from its international design, the study will also examine four therapeutic options, namely Remdesivir, which was originally developed as an Ebola treatment; Ritonavir, an oral medication that is used for treating human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection; Interferon, which is used to treat various cancers; and hydroxychloroquine, used to treat and prevent malaria.

He said that these drugs would be used “versus standard care or usual care - whatever that is in the country in which the study is being done".

“We hope that after this study, there will be clear evidence as to which of these drugs will help in the treatment of COVID-19," he said.

Court asked to halt Trump’s public-charge rule for Caribbean immigrants

NEW YORK (CMC):

A coalition of attorneys general in three states and New York City have filed a motion asking a United States district court to temporarily halt implementation of the Trump Administration’s public-charge rule that impacts Caribbean and other immigrants in light of the COVID-19 crisis.

“As our state and nation continue to suffer the devastating effects of COVID-19, it has become more and more clear that the Trump Administration’s public charge rule will only further exacerbate the problem and punish New York and other immigrant-rich states by denying many the ability to obtain healthcare," said New York Attorney General Letitia James.

“We’re asking the district court to again take immediate action and suspend this rule and the threat it places on all of us,” she added. “It’s time to end this national nightmare because every person who doesn’t get the health coverage they need today risks infecting another person with the coronavirus tomorrow.”

James said that US federal law allows lawful Caribbean and other immigrants to apply for certain supplemental health and nutritional public benefits if they have been in the country for at least five years.

But last August, the US Department of Homeland Security issued a public charge rule that changed the established meaning of public charge, which had long been that immigrants who use basic, non-cash benefits are not considered public charges because they are not primarily dependent on the government for survival.