Effective etiotropic therapy can interrupt the spread of SARS-CoV-2. This is proved by a study of 244 patients aged 18-90 years in a state of mild to moderate severity of COVID-19. At the time of the study, the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in all patients was confirmed in the laboratory (by PCR of oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal smears).

Materials and methods: Among them, at the time of inclusion in the study and the beginning of therapy, 203 patients were treated on an outpatient basis, and 41 – in a hospital. Significant differences were found in the time to virus elimination in the compared groups among all patients.Patients were randomized in a 3:1 ratio. Group 1 received favipiravir 1800 mg twice daily on day 1, then: from day 2 to day 10-800 mg twice daily). The second group received standard therapy: umifenovir + intranasal interferon alpha-2b or hydroxychloroquine for up to 10 days. The third group received azithromycin and vitamins, without the inclusion of antiviral agents. All patients received the necessary concomitant symptomatic therapy. The median estimate of the virus elimination period was taken as the primary endpoint.

Results: Thus, a median of 8.5 days was established in the group of patients who did not take antiviral therapy, compared with groups 1 and 2, where the median was 3 days. However, among hospitalized patients, virus elimination was significantly faster when taking favipiravir: 3.0 compared to 5.0 days in the comparison group (p = 0.038).

Conclusion: The use of effective antiviral therapy leads to a reduction in the time of elimination of the virus, which is a key process in interrupting its further transmission.

Keywords: Virus elimination, SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, Infection