CQ (and HCQ, etc) have multiple potential mechanisms of action. I don't believe we know how it works in this particular case yet, or if it even works at all. It

CQ (and HCQ, etc) have multiple potential mechanisms of action. I don't believe we know how it works in this particular case yet, or if it even works at all. It is indeed a zinc ionophore, [1] and those are known to impair the replication of a number of RNA viruses. [2] However, there are a number of other mechanisms at play here as well. [3] > Both CQ and HCQ are weak bases that are known to elevate the pH of acidic intracellular organelles, such as endosomes/lysosomes, essential for membrane fusion5. In addition, CQ could inhibit SARS-CoV entry through changing the glycosylation of ACE2 receptor and spike protein6. Time-of-addition experiment confirmed that HCQ effectively inhibited the entry step, as well as the post-entry stages of SARS-CoV-2, which was also found upon CQ treatment (Supplementary Fig. S2). [1] https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0109180 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal... [2] https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1001176 https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/j... [3] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41421-020-0156-0 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41421-020-0156-0