Coronavirus updates: FDA gives anti-malaria drugs emergency approval to treat COVID-19

Coronavirus updates: FDA gives anti-malaria drugs emergency approval to treat COVID-19

The two drugs are being investigated as potential treatments for COVID-19.

A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has claimed the lives of more than 35,000 people across the globe.

The new respiratory virus, which causes an illness known officially as COVID-19, has rapidly spread to every continent except Antarctica since first emerging in China in December. There are now more than 737,000 diagnosed cases of COVID-19, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. At least 156,000 of those patients have recovered from the disease.

With more than 143,000 diagnosed COVID-19 cases, the United States has by far the highest national tally in the world. At least 2,513 people have died in the U.S.