TABLE 5.

| Ongoing clinical trials. Owed to the scarcity of reliable evidence, hundreds of clinical trials were initiated in many parts of the world. Here, we searched the databases of Cochrane, embase, Medline, New England Journal of Medicine and PubMed along with the clinical trial registry (ClinicalTrial.gov), and we selected randomly some ongoing trials.

Ongoing clinical trials
Study	Study type	Country	Population size	Results	Ref
Azithromycin added to hydroxychloroquine for patients admitted to intensive care due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-protocol of randomised controlled trial AZIQUINE-ICU	Multi-center, double-blind, RCT	Czech republic	Not yet indicated	Outcomes to be studied: • Clinical worsening • mortality	(Duska et al., 2020)
Treatment with hydroxychloroquine vs hydroxychloroquine + nitazoxanide in COVID-19 patients with risk factors for poor prognosis: A structured summary of a study protocol for a randomised controlled trial	Single-center, single-blind, RCT	Mexico	86	Outcomes to be studied: • Need for mechanical ventilation • death	(Calderon et al., 2020)
Test and treat COVID 65 plus - hydroxychloroquine vs. placebo in early ambulatory diagnosis and treatment of older patients with COVID19: A structured summary of a study protocol for a randomised controlled trial	Multi-center, double-blind, RCT	Germany	300–400	Outcomes to be studied: • Need for hospitalization • death	(Gopel et al., 2020)
The COVIRL-001 trial: A multicentre, prospective, randomised trial comparing standard of care (SOC) alone, SOC plus hydroxychloroquine monotherapy or SOC plus a combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin in the treatment of non- critical, SARS-cov-2 PCR-positive population not requiring immediate resuscitation or ventilation but who have evidence of clinical decline: A structured summary of a study protocol for a randomised controlled trial	RCT	Ireland	351	Outcomes to be studied: • Time to progression to intubation or non-invasive ventilation • need for high-dose corticosteroids • death	(Feeney et al., 2020)
Use of hydroxychloroquine in patients with COVID-19: A randomized controlled clinical trial	RCT	Saudi Arabia	200	Outcomes to be studied: • Time to viral clearance • mortality	(U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2020b)
Single-center, phase II, randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled study of hydroxychloroquine compared to placebo as treatment for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-cov-2) infection	Single-center, double-blind, RCT	United States, New York	120	Outcomes to be studied: • Clinical improvement • need for mechanical ventilation	(U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2020d)
Hydroxychloroquine in SARS-cov-2 (COVID-19) pneumonia trial	Single-center RCT	United States, Washington	120	Outcomes to be studied: • Change from baseline oxygenation • length of ICU/hospital stay • need for oxygen therapy/mechanical ventilation • mortality • incidence of fatal cardiac events	(U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2020c)
Norwegian coronavirus disease 2019 (NO COVID-19) pragmatic open label study to assess early use of hydroxychloroquine sulfate in moderately severe hospitalised patients with coronavirus disease 2019: A structured summary of a study protocol for a randomised controlled trial	Single-center double-blind, RCT	Norway	202	Outcomes to be studied: • Rate of viral load reduction • need for intensive care • length of hospital stay • mortality • clinical status reached after 14 days of study initiation • laboratory profile	(Lyngbakken et al., 2020)