Participants
chronic illness, hypersensitivity, comorbidity
ASYMPTOMATIC COVID-19, RESPIRATORY INFECTIONS, CHRONIC ILLNESS, HYPERSENSITIVITY
Patients presenting to the Acute Respiratory Infections outpatient clinics for COVID-19 testing were prescreened for study eligibility. Previously healthy adults aged between 18 and 50 years were eligible for the trial if they had early symptomatic COVID-19 (i.e., reported symptoms for not more than 4 days), oxygen saturation ≥96%, were unimpeded in activities of daily living, and were willing to give fully informed consent and adhere to the study protocol. SARS-CoV-2 positivity was defined either as a nasal lateral flow antigen test which became positive within 2 min (STANDARD Q COVID-19 Ag Test, SD Biosensor, Suwon-si, Republic of Korea) or a positive PCR test within the previous 24 hr with a cycle threshold value (Ct) <25 (all viral gene targets), both suggesting high viral loads. The latter was added on November 25, 2021 to include those patients with recent PCR results confirming high viral loads. This was the only change to the pretrial prespecified inclusion/exclusion criteria. Exclusion criteria included taking any potential antivirals or preexisting concomitant medications, chronic illness or significant comorbidity, hematological or biochemical abnormalities, pregnancy (a urinary pregnancy test was performed in females), breastfeeding, or contraindication or known hypersensitivity to any of the study drugs.