An official in the US government pandemic response team on Sunday affirmed that there is zero evidence that hydroxychloroquine is a workable treatment for the COVID-19 coronavirus, despite President Donald Trump's lauding of the anti-malaria drug as a solution.

Speaking on NBC's 'Meet the Press,' a Trump administration testing figure, Brett Giroir, said he is unable to support hydroxychloroquine as a treatment as trials 'do not show any benefit'.

'We need to move on from that and talk about what is effective”, said Giroir, an assistant secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Girour suggested that the drug, the testing of which has been halted by the World Health Organization, would rarely be prescribed to patients.

This corroborates claims by Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease expert, who also rejected hydroxychloroquine as a treatment.