Exclusive: Indonesia, major advocate of hydroxychloroquine, told by WHO to stop using it

FILE PHOTO: A nurse shows a Hydroxychloroquine pill, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, at Nossa Senhora da Conceicao hospital in Porto Alegre, Brazil, April 23, 2020. REUTERS/Diego Vara

(Reuters) - The World Health Organization has urged Indonesia, one of the world's biggest advocates of two malaria drugs to treat the coronavirus, to suspend such treatment over safety concerns, a source familiar with the advice told Reuters on Tuesday.

Any decision by Indonesia to halt use of the drugs, chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, in coronavirus patients would mark a major global shift away from a treatment which has been touted for months by U.S. President Donald Trump.