ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s federal cabinet on Tuesday approved to send of at least nine million chloroquine tablets to “friendly countries” including Saudi Arabia to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chloroquine is primarily used to prevent and treat malaria, but experts have also claimed it can be effective against the infectious respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus. Some countries including the United States and United Kingdom have used the medicine to treat COVID-19 patients, increasing the demand of the medicine across the world.

“Different friendly countries have contacted Prime Minister [Imran Khan] and the foreign office to express their desire to import chloroquine tablets from Pakistan,” Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting, told reporters while briefing them on decisions taken during the cabinet meeting.

She added that the government had allowed export of one million tablets to Saudi Arabia, five million to the UK, one million to the US, half a million each to Turkey and Italy, 300,000 to Qatar, and 700,000 to Kazakhstan.

“In this testing time, we’re exporting theses tablets to friendly nations that have always helped Pakistan,” Awan said.

She informed that the prime minister had issued special instructions after conducting a careful study focusing on the export of chloroquine tablets.

Pakistan has a surplus stock of the medicine since it has 40 million tablets in finished form and raw material for 40 million more pills. The country is maintaining a stock of 15 million tablets for its use during the next three months.

“The export of tablets will help strengthen our relationship with humanity,” Awan said.

She continued that Pakistan had relied on these countries on different occasions, adding it was “an opportunity for us to improve our image and credibility among these nations by helping them.”

The coronavirus was first reported in China in late December last year. It has now spread to over 195 countries with around 2.5 million cases and 171,249 reported deaths to date.