A DRUG used on cats may offer a possible treatment for coronavirus, it is hoped.

Tests are under way to see if Retromad1, which is used to treat leukaemia and a virus similar to coronavirus in cats, might also fight COVID-19.

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The feline infectious peritonitis virus is a coronavirus which is in the same family as the Covid-19 disease in humans.

According to Dr Ng Cher Yew, the CEO of Biovalence Technologies, the drug which they have developed is being used in veterinary clinics in Singapore.

The drug had originally been invented to treat herpes in humans though it had not been officially tested for human use.

Biovalence Technologies is now looking to test the drug on humans and the effects caused by coronavirus.

It takes years for a drug to be fully trialled and clinically approved for use in humans but medical research on Covid-19 has been coming out at a rapid pace in light of the widespread pandemic.

According to Singapore's health authorities they have been using a treatment for HIV and Aids and have some success with it.

A spokesperson from Biolvalence said that the new drug would only protect individuals who had not been infected.

He said: "It is not a vaccine, however, so cannot be used on healthy individuals to prevent them from getting infected.

There has been only 266 confirmed in Singapore so far with no deaths yet recorded.

While in the UK there have been a total of 1,950 confirmed cases with 407 newly confirmed today.

Coronavirus deaths in Britain today hit 71 with a 45-year-old the youngest killed – amid fears 55,000 may have the deadly bug.

Health authorities confirmed a shocking 14 more deaths in England over the past 24 hours, with Scotland and Wales also recording two more tragic fatalities.

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