News
Malaria pill trialed to prevent COVID-19
A trial to see whether two anti-malarial drugs could prevent COVID-19 has begun in Brighton and Oxford.
Chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine or a placebo will be given to more than 40,000 healthcare workers from Europe, Africa, Asia and South America.
All the participants are staff who are in contact with COVID-19 patients.
US President Donald Trump was criticised this week after he said he had been taking hydroxychloroquine, despite warnings it might be unsafe.
The first UK participants in the global trial were enrolled yesterday at the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals and the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.
They will be given either hydroxychloroquine or a placebo for three months. At sites in Asia, participants will be given chloroquine or a placebo.
These are the first of a planned 25 UK sites, with results expected by the end of the year.
The trial is open to anyone delivering direct care to coronavirus patients in the UK, as long as they have not been diagnosed with COVID-19.
It will test whether the drugs can prevent healthcare workers exposed to the virus from contracting it.
One of the study’s leaders, Prof Nicholas White at the University of Oxford said: “We really do not know if chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine are beneficial or harmful against COVID-19.”
But, he said, a randomised controlled trial such as this one, where neither the participant nor the researchers know who has been given the drug or a placebo, was the best way to find out.
“A widely available, safe and effective vaccine may be a long way off,” said Prof Martin Llewelyn from Brighton and Sussex Medical School, who is also leading the study.
“If drugs as well-tolerated as chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine could reduce the chances of catching COVID-19, this would be incredibly valuable.”
The drugs can reduce fever and inflammation and are used as both a prevention and a treatment for malaria.
Hydroxychloroquine regulates the body’s immune response and is also used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and Lupus – an inflammatory disease caused by an overactive immune system.
Lupus charities in the UK and US have raised concerns that demand for the drug associated with coronavirus could threaten the supply for patients who already rely on it. -BBC
Miniser for Government Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu has revealed a major shake up at Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) following recent power outages.
In a post on Facebook, Felix Kwakye Ofosu disclosed that Minister for Energy and Green Transition, John Jinapor has asked the CEO of GRIDCo to step aside pending investigations into fire incident at Akosombo power control center.
Also, he further noted that there has been a major shake up in the leadership of the ECG in the Ashanti Region.
“At 2pm tomorrow, Minister for Energy and Green Transition, Hon John Jinapor, will hold a major briefing on recent developments in electricity distribution,” he concluded.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
News
Abu Trica’s extradition case: Prophets, fetish priests demand pay for spiritual solution …Lawyer reveals
Mr Oliver Barker-Vormawor, a lawyer for embattled Frederick Kumi, affectionately called Abu Trica and has made a shocking revelation over the behaviour of some members of the clergy.
According to him in a post on social media, the difficult part of Abu Trica’s trial is not the law but the number of ‘Men of God’ and fetish priests demanding financial sacrifices to help resolve the matter spiritually.
Oliver Barker-Vormawor posted on Tuesday, April 22, 2026, “The most difficult part about the Abu Trica case; is not the law.”
He continued: “It is the number of, prophetesses, evangelists and fetish priests, who have called or messaged to ask us to pay for spiritual solutions.”
It would be recalled that in March this year, the Gbese District Court dismissed a preliminary objection filed by Abu Trica, challenging the extradition proceedings initiated at the request of the United States.
The court, presided over by Anna Akosua Appiah Gottfried Anaafi Gyasi, in its ruling held that the offences forming the basis of the extradition, particularly wire fraud, constitute extraditable offences under the 1931 treaty between Ghana and the United States.
He was then given 15 days counting from March 27 to appeal the decision of the court or be surrendered for extradition to the US.
Against this backdrop, he was on Tuesday, April 22, granted a bail in the sum of GH¢30,000,000 by an Accra High, pending the appeal of his extradition
Mr Kumi was arrested in Ghana in December 2025 following an indictment by United States authorities, alleging that he played a role in a romance scam network that defrauded elderly American victims of more than $8 million.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
