Edit: Ahmed Al-Kumi

Health researchers have said that cheap and available antidepressants may reduce the risk of severe symptoms of the corona virus epidemic by nearly a third in high - risk people.

An experiment of about 1,500 patients in Brazil showed that those who took the drug, known as fluovoxamine, were less likely to develop into severe illness and be hospitalized.

Sold under the trade name Luvox, the drug is a selective serotonin recovery inhibitor (SSRI) often used to treat OCD and depression.

Dr. Angela Riersen, assistant professor of psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis, who worked on the study published in The Lancet Global Health, said it could affect infections caused by the virus, adding that Flufoxamine may reduce the production of inflammatory molecules called cytokines that can be caused by corona virus infection, and that the drug may also reduce the number of blood sheets, which may affect the effects of corona virus-induced apoptosis. "