Government gives up on chloroquine-prescribing app, for now

The Brazilian Health Ministry has decided to temporarily take down a government app designed to help doctors and patients navigate the early stages of coronavirus infections, launched less than a week ago. In many ways, the short-lived algorithm epitomized the way the Jair Bolsonaro administration tackled the pandemic. That is, it was an ineffective tool predicated on prescribing unproven treatments against Covid-19.

The app — named TrateCOV or, “Treat Covid” — consisted of a broad triage assessment with a number of questions regarding symptoms and potential exposure to people with confirmed coronavirus diagnoses. Once doctors or patients filled in all of their relevant details, the app would provide treatment suggestions based on the “coronavirus risk level” denoted from the answers.

The issue with the platform, experts say, is that it continuously provided recommendations for the use of antibiotics, chloroquine, ivermectin, and other drugs, regardless of the reported symptoms. Suggested treatment for fevers and coughs did not differ from those for trivial symptoms such as diarrhea, nausea, or the combination of fatigue and headaches that come with a typical hangover. 

In fact, for any combination of two symptoms, TrateCOV would recommend treatment of chloroquine, even if the individual in question had not left their home or had any contact with infected persons in the two weeks prior to diagnosis.

“The TrateCOV platform was launched as a pilot project and was...