Brussels, June 1 (RHC)-- European governments moved to halt the use of anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 patients, and a second global trial was suspended, further blows to hopes for a treatment promoted by U.S. President Donald Trump.

The moves by France, Italy and Belgium followed a World Health Organization decision last week to pause a large trial of hydroxychloroquine due to safety concerns.

A UK regulator said that a separate trial was also being put on hold, less than a week after it started.  The study, being led by the University of Oxford and partly funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, was expected to involve as many as 40,000 healthcare workers.