If you are asking yourself if you should take ibuprofen or paracetamol because there has been a message that has gone viral stating a laboratory has done studies of those that have died from COVID-19 and found one common thing was that many of the victims have taken ibuprofen. This, however, is inaccurate. There have been no specific studies to date that can confirm this.

That being said the government in England states on their website .gov that until we have more information, take paracetamol (acetaminophen) to treat the symptoms of coronavirus unless your doctor has told you paracetamol is not suitable for you.

The World Health Organization has stated on the 18th of March, 2020 however that they recommend people suffering from COVID-19 symptoms avoid taking ibuprofen after French officials warned that anti-inflammatory drugs could worsen effects of the virus.

The French Health Minister Olivier Veran followed a recent study in “The Lancet” medical journal that hypothesized that an enzyme boosted by anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen could facilitate and worsen COVID-19 infections.

Christian Lindemeier spokesman for the World Health Organization (WHO) told reporters in Geneva when questioned about the study that the UN health agency’s experts were “looking into this to give further guidance.”

“In the meantime, we recommend using paracetamol and do not use ibuprofen as self-medication. He did say that if a health care professional prescribed ibuprofen that would be of course up to them as they knew the patient’s medical history.

There may be no definitive answer to this for years because there is so little known yet about the disease so our advice is to err on the side of caution unless your doctor or GP has advised otherwise. It is always best to speak to your health professionals whenever possible as they know you and your health condition much better.

Stay in when possible and stay safe and healthy with or without ibuprofen or paracetamol!