2.3. Randomization
Patients admitted to the COVID-19 wards were screened for LAC trial eligibility by a member of the clinical staff. They were asked to sign and date a specific informed consent form, and then they were randomized 1:1 to the bovine lactoferrin or placebo arm. Allocation to one of the treatment groups was performed using a restricted randomization procedure based on the permuted block randomization scheme with a block size of 4 to ensure a balanced allocation for each participating center [