Scientists have reported following a clinical trial that taking hydroxychloroquine shortly after being exposed to COVID-19 does not help prevent infection .
The study was led by a team at the University of Minnesota.
Researchers enrolled adults who had come into contact with someone who had a confirmed case of COVID-19 for more than 10 minutes at a distance of six feet or less.
All participants were randomly assigned to receive either hydroxychloroquine which is certified for use against malaria, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus or a placebo, within four days.
They found that 49 of the 414 given the medicine got the disease caused by the coronavirus, compared to 58 of the 407 on the placebo.
The absolute difference of about 2.4 percentage points in favor of the medicine was not considered statistically significant given the sample size, meaning it could have occurred because of chance.
