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HONG KONG: A new study has found that patients suffering milder illness caused by the new coronavirus recover more quickly if treated with a three-drug antiviral cocktail soon after symptoms appear.
Kwok-Yung Yuen, professor at the University of Hong Kong, who led the research, said, “Our trial demonstrates that early treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 with a triple combination of antiviral drugs may rapidly suppress the amount of virus in a patient’s body.”
He said that the treatment, which appeared safe in patients, was shown to “relieve symptoms, and reduce the risk to health-care workers by reducing the duration and quantity of viral shedding (when the virus is detectable and potentially transmissible)”.
Scientists have been racing to identify effective medicines to use against the new coronavirus, but there is currently no treatment, cure, or vaccine. The study tracked the virus in 127 adults admitted to six hospitals in Hong Kong after they tested positive.
Researchers found that those taking all three medicines were able to clear the coronavirus in seven days on average (between five and 11 days) significantly shorter than the 12-day average for the control group.
Those on the three-drug regimen also saw a complete alleviation of their symptoms in an average of four days, compared to eight for the control group.
Recently, Japan had approved remdesivir as a treatment for COVID-19, making it the country’s first officially authorised drug to tackle the coronavirus disease.
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