One of these methods is using anti-malaria drugs to treat Covid-19, although President Donald Trump expressed hope for chloroquine.

As of March 25, the number of patients in the world exceeded 400,000, with nearly 19,000 deaths.

Amy Abernethy, Principal Deputy Commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said anti-malarial drugs such as chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine need to be examined and tested for safety as well as effectiveness in treatment.

`We have to carefully ask, what database supports this method, what makes it superior to other methods?`, Abernethy said.

New York State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker spoke on the WSJ Health Forum.

Health officials around the world have called for tighter regulation of the anti-malarial drug chloroquine.

Jeff Colyer, Chairman of the American Health Care and Rural Health Advisory Committee, said that malaria drugs could be effective in treating Covid-19 if used early.

A study in China tested hydroxychloroquine on 30 patients with mild symptoms but did not show much effectiveness.

Since the outbreak, experts have been racing to find treatments for Covid-19, assessing whether they make a difference.

Recently, scientists began testing a drug to treat rheumatoid arthritis in people with Covid-19.

Trevor Mundel, President of Global Health at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine could be launched by the end of this year or early next year, but many trials will be needed.

`We will definitely need a more secure and efficient database to accelerate vaccine development,` Mr. Mundel said.

Covid-19 also occupies all the attention in discussions on health forums.

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