An uncontrolled exploratory study of the effect of IFNα2b treatment of a cohort of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Wuhan, China, showed that the α IFN with or without arbidol significantly reduced the duration of detectable SARS-CoV-2 virus in the upper respiratory tract and, in parallel, reduced duration of elevated blood levels for the inflammatory marker IL-6 (140). Here, IL6 is linked to COVID-19.