Background: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has spread around the world since the beginning of 2020. The definitive diagnosis of COVID-19 is the RT-PCR laboratory test. However, because of low sensitivity, the chest CT scan has become important for the rapid diagnosis and clinical decision-making.
Objectives: This study aims to define CT scan’ diagnostic value in diagnosing COVID-19 in medical centers.
Methods: This study is a rapid health technology assessment (HTA) and had two major phases. In phase 1, a rapid review was done for defining the sensitivity and specificity rate of CT. During this phase, studies related to the diagnostic and technical data on the use of CT in the diagnosis of COVID-19 were reviewed, and the sensitivity and specificity of CT in these studies were extracted. In phase 2, sequential testing was run to evaluate the diagnostic value of chest CT to diagnose COVID-19 according to two scenarios before and after adding RT-PCR test results.
Results: CT scan has a high sensitivity for diagnosing cases of COVID-19. Due to its low specificity, relying on CT scans to diagnose COVID-19 alone in medical centers can lead to a significant proportion of false-positive cases. This study showed that if the probability of COVID-19 before the CT scan were about 50%, with a positive CT scan, this probability would be between 60 and 70% depending on the CT specificity.
Conclusions: With the available evidence, the use of a CT scan alone is not sufficient for diagnosis. The RT-PCR test is also necessary to improve the diagnosis and continue the treatment and isolation of patients.

Context: Remdesivir is an antiviral drug manufactured by Gilead Sciences, Inc., in which in-vitro studies have been shown to work in COVID-19 patients. Although it’s not approved by pharmaceutical authorities and has not passed the first and second phases of clinical trials, it is prescribed on a trial basis for patients with Covid-19. In more than 20 countries, researchers are monitoring the results of using Remdesivir in clinical settings to see if it can be prescribed for larger populations if patients respond positively.
Methods: This is a rapid review of the evidence for the potential effects of Remdesivir, which intended to create a policy guide. To do so, health technology assessment studies indexed in MEDLINE and Cochrane Library databases were searched using the keywords, including drug name and disease name, on April 21, 2020. In addition, references of retrieved studies were checked to ensure throughout the capture of the literature. Studies on the safety and efficacy of Remdesivir in Covid-19 patients, both in Persian or English, were included. To identify ongoing clinical trials in Iran and some countries, clinical trial registration systems were also searched.
Results: In total 90 titles were identified, which after removing duplicates and applying inclusion criteria, 32 were included, all of which were published in 2020. 25 of them were review studies, mostly on treating Covid-19 disease, and some of them were dedicated to the effects of Remdesivir in treating the disease. However, no systematic review was found. Of the remaining studies, three were finished clinical trials, two of which evaluated the safety and efficacy of Remdesivir on mild, moderate, and severe Covid-19 compared to a placebo, and the third study compared Remdesivir with routine treatment. A cohort study on the efficacy of Remdesivir in compassionate use was also found. Also, two case reports of patients receiving Remdesivir and a letter-to- editor describing Remdesivir as an appropriate treatment for Covid-19 were identified. Moreover, registered clinical trials with different designs intended to investigate the safety and efficacy of Remdesivir in treating Covid-19 were extracted from clinical trial registration systems (Table 3). In total 15 protocols were found, which 13 were in primary stages. The other two were in phase three of clinical trials and aimed to investigate the effect of Remdesivir in treating patients with severe, moderate, or mild Covid-19. In the clinical trial registration system, it is mentioned that the first study is stopped prematurely due to the lack of a sufficient number of patients, and the second study is also suspended.
Conclusions: Evidence on the safety and efficacy of Remdesivir in treating Covid-19 are very limited to make a decision. However, if registered trials are completed, enough evidence would be available to decide whether to accept or reject the Remdesivir. Since the effectiveness of Remdesivir is not clear yet, its prescription for Covid-19 patients has so far been limited to clinical trials, compassionate use, or emergency use.

In late 2019, the epidemic of COVID-19 (Coronavirus 2019) appeared in Wuhan, China, and rapidly spread around the world. Due to this situation, the use of social networks has increased among people. The present study is a narrative review to review studies conducted on the subject of social media and COVID-19 in the Web of Science database. The investigations show that social media has been used to share viewpoints, health care, and distance learning during the COVID-19 crisis. Therefore, governments and experts can use the useful experiences of the application of social media in the spread of the COVID-19 crisis and employ social media to prevent the spread of this epidemic and even in similar future crises.

Context: The coronavirus (named COVID-19) 2019 pandemic has caused significant morbidity and mortality around the world and has created serious challenges for health systems. To date, no medical treatment is developed for COVID-19 with proven effectiveness. This study is a rapid review aimed to identify and summarize evidence on the efficacy and safety of Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and Chloroquine (CQ) for COVID-19 infection.
Methods: This study is a rapid review that systematically searched electronic databases, including PubMed, EMBASE, ClinicalTrials.gov, and Cochrane Library, until May 22, 2020. Peer-reviewed randomized clinical trials, reviews, and observational studies on the efficacy and safety of HCQ and CQ for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 infection were included.
Results: There were seven review articles, five clinical trial studies, and eight observational studies focusing on CQ or HCQ to treat COVID-19 patients. Of five clinical trials, three reported favorable outcomes among patients who received CQ or HCQ. Of eight observational studies, four reported no difference between the use of HCQ alone or combined administration of HCQ and Azithromycin with other medications. Three studies showed that the combined administration of HCQ and Azithromycin or HCQ alone is associated with improved clinical outcomes.
Conclusions: The included studies reported conflicting results on the efficacy and safety of HCQ and CQ in treating COVID-19. Therefore, it seems that there is not sufficient evidence about the effectiveness and safety of HCQ and CQ to treat patients with COVID-19 and more studies, which also report long-term follow up results, are needed..

Context: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) appeared for the first time in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. Due to the lack of unified and integrated evidence for Favipiravir, this study was conducted to rapidly review the existing evidence to help evidence-based decision-making on the therapeutic potential of this drug in the treatment of COVID-19 patients.
Evidence Acquisition: This study is a rapid Health Technology Assessment (HTA). By searching pertinent databases, the research team collected relevant articles and tried to create a policy guide through a thematic approach. This rapid review was done in four steps: (1) Searching for evidence through databases; (2) screening the evidence considering eligibility criteria; (3) data extraction; and (4) analyzing the data through thematic analysis.
Results: After applying the inclusion criteria, four studies were finally found, including three review studies and a clinical trial that was temporarily removed by its publisher from the journal’s website. After searching the sources mentioned in the articles, two ongoing clinical trials were found in China. Also, by searching the clinical trial website, www.clinicaltrials.gov, five clinical trials were found in the search. The result of the search in the clinical trial registration system in Iran showed a study that is in the process of patient recruitment. A limited number of other articles were found, mostly in the form of reflections from physicians or researchers and letters to editors who have predicted the drug’s performance on SARS-CoV-2, which needs further clinical study to be approved.
Conclusions: With the available evidence, it is not possible to make a definite conclusion about the safety and efficacy of Favipiravir in the treatment of patients with COVID-19.

At present, the disease (COVID-19) is widespread throughout China and the world [1] and is a serious problem for public health and the health of people and communities. Similar to other epidemic diseases, people are intended to know the solutions to prevent and treat the disease [2]. At this time (May 2020), along with the pandemic of COVID-19, there is a need to inform and increase the awareness about this disease among different classes of people in different communities because of the lack of knowledge of the ways of prevention, control, and treatment for self-care and self-control. Controlling people is very important. People and individuals in the affected communities must learn to protect themselves from the potential risks and harms of the outbreak of this mysterious and unknown new virus. Therefore, access to health information, the messages about health education, awareness of prevention, and selecting a healthy lifestyle will assist people in coping with Coronavirus. Supporting people's access to valid health information leads to a change in the philosophy of prevention, control, inhibition, and treatment of the disease, which causes the national development of health [3]. Moreover, timely and precise information is also essential for the prevention and treatment of Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) for both the general public and the scientific community [4]. It is evident that a type of information tsunami is along with the outbreak of any disease, and this information is always accompanied by false information and rumors.
In social media, the phenomenon of the spread of false information and rumors is increased at every moment and progresses faster and faster, which is similar to the rapid spread of viruses in humans [5].
Currently, a great deal of information has been published on the Internet, especially on social networks, in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. This information can sometimes be inaccurate and invalid with no scientific basis [6,7]. Therefore, this is a challenge because of affecting the people's behavior of prevention and treatment. Moreover, it increases the media's frequent exposure to incorrect information, crises, anxiety, and stress reactions among people; hence, preparing the proper information from a valid source is a significant issue in this epidemic type.
Nowadays, the Internet and web resources are frequently employed by different users such as citizens, students, and patients to search for information and make health-based decisions. The ability to discover, evaluate, and use health information on the web is affected by e-health literacy [8]. "E-health literacy" is the skill to search, find, understand, and evaluate health information from electronic information resources and employ this information to diagnose or make appropriate health-based decisions [9]. Therefore, people with e-health literacy skills use more efficient web search strategies and show a better ability to recognize high-quality health information.
With regards to the issues as mentioned above, education and information on the improvement of e-health literacy by the leading authorities such as the Ministry of Health and Medical Education and the Ministry of Education are essential and cause better control and management of the spread of false information and rumors among different classes of the community. The important issue about Coronavirus compared to similar crises is that in contrast to other crises (e.g., floods, earthquakes, explosions, and bombardment), the Coronavirus is an invisible and immeasurable crisis. Hence, it is essential to get accurate and timely information to stop the outbreak of COVID-19. The e-health literacy skills are prerequisites for obtaining precise and high-quality information about health in the information explosion and digital age.