The Trump Administration is Looking Into Sending Cash Directly to Americans

The White House announced on Tuesday its plans to deliver over $250 billion worth of checks to Americans as the US fights against COVID-19 and recession.

The cash payments are a part of an $850 stimulus proposal the treasury secretary discussed with Republicans on Tuesday.

President Donald Trump said the new measure would provide immediate economic support than the payroll tax cut holiday he has previously promoted.

The direct payments will reportedly cover two weeks of pay and will be sent by the end of April. Additional checks will be discussed.

Mr. Trump also allowed deferment of income tax payments for 90 days. The deferment could help cushion the blow of lost wages and customers.

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Scientists Test Drugs Used On Cats to Treat COVID-19

Researchers are now testing to see if Retromad1, a drug used to treat leukemia and coronavirus in cats, can work on humans.

Biovalence Technologies developed the drug to fight the feline infectious peritonitis virus which resembles COVID-19. Veterinary clinics in Singapore use the drug on animal patients.

The drug was originally meant to treat herpes in humans but was never tested for possible side effects on humans.

Biovalence Technologies is now looking into starting a human trial to observe for possible side effects as well as its capability to protect healthy individuals from the virus.

Health officials in Singapore reported success in using Retromad1 as a treatment option for HIV and AIDS.

COVID-19: People with Blood Type A May Be More Vulnerable

Chinese health officials released their findings from a preliminary study of patients who were infected with the coronavirus.

Medical researchers found that patients with blood type A often developed more severe symptoms than patients with other blood types. They emphasized the study was only preliminary but urged health officials to consider blood type differences when treating patients infected with Sars-CoV-2.

Lead researcher Wang Xinghuan said patients with blood group A might need strengthened protection to reduce the chances of infection. Infected patients would need vigilant surveillance and more aggressive treatment plans.

The study also discovered blood group O to have a significantly lower risk for the infection.

All findings from the preliminary study were published on medrxiv.org.

Japanese Flu Drug Effective on Coronavirus Patients

Medical authorities in China said a Japanese drug used to combat flu appeared to be effective on coronavirus patients.

Favipiravir, a drug developed Fujifilm Toyama Chemical, reportedly produced encouraging outcomes in clinical trials performed in Wuhan.

Patients who were given the drug tested negative for the virus four days after they were confirmed positive. Those who were not given the drug recovered after 11 days.

X-rays also showed improvements in lung condition on almost all of the patients treated with favipiravir.

Japanese health officials said the drug did not produce the same results on patients with more severe symptoms. The same result was found after scientists tried a combination of the flu drug with HIV antiretroviral drugs.

Fujifilm Toyama Chemical, the developer of the drug, refused to comment on the claims.

Study Shows COVID-19 Can Survive in the Air

A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Tuesday showed the new coronavirus can live on some surfaces for three days.

Experts say the virus can become suspended in droplets can stay suspended for half an hour before drifting down and settling on surfaces like plastic and steel. The study also showed the virus surviving 24 hours on cardboard packages.

The finding is inconsistent with a previous claim that the virus cannot be transported by air.

Another study published in the online journal Pediatrics found a small percentage of babies and preschoolers can become seriously ill if infected with the coronavirus. Findings were reported after researchers conducted a study involving 2,000 ill children in China.

The scientists urge governments to use the study as a factor in implementing school closure policies, hospital preparedness, and deployment of treatment and vaccines.