ICU admission rates in Istanbul following the addition of favipiravir to the national COVID-19 treatment protocol.

Objective: The objective of this study was to understand the observational relationship between adoption of favipiravir into the national COVID-19 treatment protocol and intensive care unit (ICU) admission rates in Istanbul due to COVID-19.

Methods: Data were harvested from the "Public Health Management System-HSYS," which collate centrally the records of all known cases of COVID-19. The total number of cases, numbers admitted to ICU, and number undergoing intubation were compared between 2 time periods: 11 of March, the date on which the first case in Turkey was confirmed, to 30 of March; and March 30, to 10 of April, 5 days after Favipiravir was introduced into the treatment algorithm when, the records were examined.

Results: The percentage of patients requiring ICU admission diminished from 24% to 12%, whilst the percentage intubated fell from 77% to 66%. These differences were both statistically significant.

Conclusion: The addition of favipiravir to the national COVID-19 treatment protocol may explain this rapid decrease in the rate of ICU admissions and intubation.