I didn't want to post this before, because I was afraid it would stir up too much feelings on the forum, but as the genie is already out of the bottle today, so to speak, there was also this study (pre-proof)which results were released over a week ago:
"No Evidence of Rapid Antiviral Clearance or Clinical Benefit with the Combination of Hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin in Patients with Severe COVID-19 Infection"
"Repeated nasopharyngeal swabs in 10 patients (not done in the patient who died) using a
qualitative PCR assay (nucleic acid extraction using Nuclisens Easy Mag®, Biomerieux and
amplification with RealStar SARS CoV-2®, Altona), were still positive for SARS-CoV2 RNA in
8/10 patients (80%, 95% confidence interval: 49-94) at days 5 to 6 after treatment initiation.
These virologic results stand in contrast with those reported by Gautret et al. and cast doubts
about the strong antiviral efficacy of this combination. Furthermore, in their report Gautret et
al also reported one death and three transfers to the ICU among the 26 patients who received
hydroxychloroquine, also underlining the poor clinical outcome with this combination"
https://www.sciencedirect.com/...
The specific combination of hydroxychloroquine/azithromycin has never been mentioned to be used in Swedish hospitals, but since a week all trials using chloroquine has been suspended here, because they saw no evidence that it works and patients could get worse from the treatment. They are however ready to resume treatment if other countries studies prove it to be effective after all.
