Pence says medicine to treat coronavirus may be available by summer

WASHINGTON D.C. – US Vice President Mike Pence here on Monday said that the medication for treating coronavirus may be available by this summer or early fall.

"The vaccine might yet not be available till late this year or early next, but the therapeutics giving relief to people that contracted coronavirus could literally be available by this summer or early fall," the Vice President said during a press conference here. US pharmaceutical companies are working together, sharing information, to help develop therapeutics and vaccines to treat the novel coronavirus.

Pence also said that a vaccine for the new virus may be going to clinical trials in six weeks. Four US citizens infected with the novel coronavirus died on Monday, raising the total death count to six. While the total viral infections surpassed 100 in the US.

As of Monday, deaths from the new disease surpassed 3,000, mostly in China. However, new infections in more than 60 other nations were occurring at nearly ten times the rate as in China, according to the latest data from the UN World Health Organisation. The overall number of COVID-19 cases worldwide has increased by 1,804 to 88,948. Florida and Washington state have further issued a public health emergency as a result of the cases.