06:48
Major hospital chain in Brazil faces probe over use of hydroxychloroquine
Prevent Senior, a major healthcare chain serving tens of thousands of patients in the Sao Paulo area of Brazil, has been accused of testing unproven drugs on elderly Covid-19 patients without their knowledge.
The Brazilian agency that regulates health insurance plans opened an investigation into the allegations, according to statements made to a Senate inquiry on Wednesday, Reuters reports.
Paulo Rebello Filho, head of the National Regulatory Agency for Private Health Insurance Plans (ANS), said his staff has detected “assistance abnormalities” at Prevent Senior and the health chain will be put under special technical supervision.
At least nine people died of Covid-19 during the trials at Prevent Senior from March to April 2020, but their charts were altered to hide the cause of death, the inquiry was told last week by a lawyer for 10 whistleblowing doctors.
The Senators were told the hospital chain sought to validate far-right President Jair Bolsonaro’s policy of advocating the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid patients.
Prevent Senior has said the accusations, including the altering of patient charts and the firing of doctors who opposed the practice, are unfounded.
06:36
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the coronavirus outbreak.
I’m Samantha Lock and I’ll be giving you a rundown of the latest coronavirus updates as they happen.
Here are the key developments from the last few hours.
An investigation is underway in Brazil after allegations emerged claiming a hospital chain tested unproven drugs on elderly Covid-19 patients without their knowledge.
The Brazilian agency that regulates health insurance plans made the allegations against Prevent Senior, a major healthcare chain serving tens of thousands of patients in the Sao Paulo area, during a Senate inquiry on Wednesday.
- England’s Covid travel red list to be cut to a dozen countries. Destinations including Brazil, Mexico and South Africa are expected to be moved off the red list on Thursday, meaning passengers returning from them will not have to isolate in a hotel.
- The UK government has lifted its advice against non-essential travel to 32 countries and territories, including Bangladesh, Fiji, Gambia, Ghana and Malaysia. The UK will stop advising Britons to avoid all but essential travel to non-red list countries on Covid-19 grounds except in “exceptional circumstances”.
- UK reports 39,851 new Covid cases and 143 deaths.
- Brazil records 530 more coronavirus deaths on Wednesday.
- Turkey reports record number of daily coronavirus cases, surpassing 30,000 on Wednesday, the highest number of infections since 30 April.
- A skin condition known as ‘Covid toe’ may be a side-effect of the immune system’s response to fighting off the virus, according to a recent study.
- Russia reports record number of daily Covid deaths with 929 coronavirus-related deaths recorded on Wednesday, the largest single-day death toll since the pandemic began.
- Wales to go ahead with the introduction of a Covid pass for nightclubs and big sporting events.
- New Zealanders should ‘plan to encounter’ Covid before Christmas, expert warns.