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The outbreak of COVID‐19, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, started in December 2019, Wuhan, China. We aimed to figure out the time‐point and duration of using antiviral drugs for receiving the maximal effects in patients with COVID‐19. In this study, we enrolled 129 confirmed COVID‐19 mild to moderate patients who had been treated with antiviral drugs during their hospitalization in Wuhan Union Hospital China. The patients were divided into an early antiviral treatment group and late antiviral treatment group. The demographic data, laboratory tests, the virus clearance time, chest computed tomography scans, and so forth were extracted, calculated, and compared between two groups. Our data showed that the median time from illness onset to initiation of antiviral treatment was 6 days in all patients. The group with early antiviral treatment demonstrated 7 days shorter in the virus clearance time when compared to the group with late antiviral treatment. After virus clearance, the group with early antiviral treatment showed milder illness than the group with late antiviral treatment. Early antiviral treatment could effectively shorten the virus clearance time, and prevent the rapid progression of COVID‐19. Therefore, the COVID‐19 patients should receive combined therapies with antiviral treatment at an early stage. Highlights: The group with early antiviral treatment demonstrated 7 days shorter in the virus clearance time when compared to the group with late antiviral treatment, and the time was further shortened after optimizing the duration of antivirals medication.After virus clearance, the group with early antiviral treatment showed milder illness than the group with late antiviral treatment.Controlling the duration of antiviral medication within 7 days could effectively clear virus, and slow down the replication of the virus in the body. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]