A physician in New York state claims he has used the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine and zinc to treat 350 patients for COVID-19 with 100 percent success.

In a video posted on YouTube, Dr. Vladimir Zelenko said he saw the symptom of shortness of breath resolved within four to six hours, the Gateway Pundit blog reported.

Zelenko, addressing his message to President Trump, said he's a board-certified family practioner in the community of Kiryas Joel in Orange County, New York, in the Hudson Valley, about 50 miles north of New York City.

"I'm seeing a tremendous outbreak in this community," he said. "My estimate is more than 60% currently have the infection.

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"That's based on the percentage of the tests that I'm getting back already," Zelenko explained. "That's probably around 20,000 people, probably more."

See Dr. Zelenko's video:

At a Fox News "virtual townhall" Tuesday in the Rose Garden, Vice President Mike Pence was asked by Dr. Mehmet Oz, the popular TV doctor, how the distribution of the hydroxychloroquine treatment can be accelerated.

Pence said "there is no barrier," explaining the FDA already has approved "off-label" use, meaning the drug used to treat malaria also can be prescribed to treat COVID-19.

The vice president said the administration is working with Bayer on increasing the supply of the drug at the same time clinical trials are being conducted.

"Doctors can prescribe that medication, which, as you know, is a perfectly legal malaria medication," Pence said.

Oz asked Pence if he would allow himself to be treated with hydroxychloroquine if he were infected with the coronavirus.

"I would follow the advice of my physician, and I would recommend everyone do that," the vice president replied.

'Game changer'

Oz has called chloroquine "the biggest game changer of all," with the potential of preventing the U.S. from "becoming Italy."

President Trump announced Monday that clinical trials for chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine will begin in New York on Tuesday. He said 10,000 units of chloroquine will be distributed in the state.

Studies in China, Australia and France have found the combination of chloroquine and zithromycin treated the coronavirus within six days with a 100% success rate.

In an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity on Monday night, Dr. Peter Costantino, the chairman of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, was asked to comment on Dr. Zelenko's reported results.

"I'm very, very optimistic about this," he said. "This is not a controlled study, but the number of patients represented by Dr. Zelenko is very significant."

Costantino noted there were no hospitilizations, intubations or deaths among Zelenko's 350 patients. As many as 40 hospitalizations would have been expected, he said, along with possibly two or three deaths.

See the interview with Sean Hannity: