Since COVID-19 has a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations and case fatality rates, no standard antiviral therapy regimen have been established other than supportive therapy. A study established a guideline, to introduce potentially helpful antiviral and other drug therapies based on in vivo and in vitro research and clinical experiences from many countries. Some of the highlights are as follows-

Recommendation of antiviral therapy for patients with COVID-19-

• Other than supportive therapy, there is still a lack of effective antiviral agents for COVID-19.
• Antiviral therapy may be attempted at the preference of healthcare providers.

Patients to be considered for antiviral therapy-

• Patients with confirmed COVID-19 with moderate to the severe course including pneumonia, those with worsening clinical findings, and those with risk of progressing to severe COVID-19 disease (elderly, presence of chronic diseases, and immunocompromised patients).

The most appropriate time to initiate antiviral therapy-

• Antiviral agents should be initiated immediately following the diagnosis or as early as possible.
• For patients with severe symptoms and strong suspicion to have COVID-19 but yet to be confirmed by tests, antiviral therapy can be initiated before the test results are confirmed.

Duration for antiviral agent’s use-

• They are often recommended for 7 – 10 days, but they can be altered depending on the patients status.
• The duration also depends on the different agents used and may be altered depending on recent updates.

Source- Infect Chemother. 2020;52(2):281-304. doi:10.3947/ic.2020.52.2.281