Doctors and nurses are to take part in an Australian-first trial that aims to go some way towards settling the science behind hydroxychloroquine. 

The ‘COVID shield’ study, led by Melbourne’s Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, has recruited more than 100 healthcare workers to test the drug’s efficacy.

Study colead Professor Marc Pellegrini said half of the study participants would be given the drug and the rest a placebo during the next four months to determine its effectiveness in clinical settings.

US President Donald Trump infamously spruiked hydroxychloroquine as a potential “game-changer” in March and later confirmed he had been taking the drug for “a couple of weeks”.