Thread by @kakape

Regular @WHO presser on #covid19 starting with @drtedros marking #AfricaDay. "Africa is the least affected region globally”, he says: 1,5 % of the world’s reported #covid19 cases, 0,1% of the world’s deaths. “Of course those numbers don’t paint the whole picture."

@WHO @DrTedros He notes that testing is still ramping up in some places on the continent and that #covid19 cases may be missed. Still: "Africa appears to have so far been spared the scale of outbreaks we have seen in other regions”, says @drtedros.

@WHO @DrTedros "Countries across Africa have garnered a great deal of experience from tackling infectious diseases like polio, measles, Ebola, yellow fever, influenza and many more”, says @DrTedros.

@WHO @DrTedros Testing and community engagement have improved, but there are still gaps, says @drtedros. "Only 19% of countries in the region have an infection prevention and control programme and standards for water, sanitation and hygiene in health facilities."

@WHO @DrTedros Regional director of @WHOAFRO @MoetiTshidi lauds African communities: "We have seen African countries take very tough decisions to put in place some of the control measures that are aimed at physical and social distancing and this has been at a high cost.”

@WHO @DrTedros @WHOAFRO @MoetiTshidi This is big news! @WHO is pausing the chloroquine/hydroxychloroquine arm of the Solidarity trial evaluating several experimental therapies against #covid19.

@WHO @DrTedros @WHOAFRO @MoetiTshidi Executive Group of the Solidarity trial met on Saturday and agreed to critically review all available data on chloroquine/hydroxychloroquine, "in particular robust randomised available data, to adequately evaluate the potential benefits and harms from this drug"

@WHO @DrTedros @WHOAFRO @MoetiTshidi "The Executive Group has implemented a temporary pause of the hydroxychloroquine arm within the Solidarity Trial while the data is reviewed by the Data Safety Monitoring Board … WHO will provide further updates as we know more”, says @DrTedros.

@WHO @DrTedros @WHOAFRO @MoetiTshidi Had a chance to ask about this. First of all: @doctorsoumya clarified that the Solidarity trial is only using hydroxychloroquine (I think original plan was to use chloroquine in some countries and hydroxychloroquine in others).

@WHO @DrTedros @WHOAFRO @MoetiTshidi @doctorsoumya Both @DrTedros and @doctorsoumya mentioned this Lancet paper as one main reason for concern: thelancet.com/journals/lance…

@WHO @DrTedros @WHOAFRO @MoetiTshidi @doctorsoumya “The steering committee met over the weekend and decided that in the light of this uncertainty that we should be proactive, err on the side of caution and suspend enrollment temporarily into the hydroxychloroquine arm”, says @doctorsoumya.

@WHO @DrTedros @WHOAFRO @MoetiTshidi @doctorsoumya DSMB will look at data collected so far in trial, says @doctorsoumya. "We will also be writing to the principal investigators of all the other trials that are ongoing, we're aware of at least seven other trials, including the UK recovery trial that are using hydroxychloroquine."

@WHO @DrTedros @WHOAFRO @MoetiTshidi @doctorsoumya "The data safety monitoring board will meet again as soon as we've collected all the data from both published and unpublished studies that are ongoing, and then we will review the decision again ... during the course of the next week or two”, says @doctorsoumya.

@WHO @DrTedros @WHOAFRO @MoetiTshidi @doctorsoumya DSMB will now look at data and will inform if there is any problem, adds @DrMikeRyan. “We would expect that if no signal is found of any problems, then we would continue to randomize and to use the drug."

@WHO @DrTedros @WHOAFRO @MoetiTshidi @doctorsoumya @DrMikeRyan In response to a follow-up from @HelenBranswell, @DrMikeRyan says that there has been no concerning signal from hydroxchloroquine arm in the Solidarity trial itself: “There is no problem at all right now within the solidarity trial, there's no issue, there is no signal."

@WHO @DrTedros @WHOAFRO @MoetiTshidi @doctorsoumya @DrMikeRyan @HelenBranswell DSMB will look at data now while trial is paused to see if there is any signal, says @DrMikeRyan. “We're just acting out of an abundance of caution, based on the recent results from other studies to ensure that we can continue safely with that arm of the trial."