January 9, 2020 WHO announced the discovery of a new type of coronavirus in one of the Chinese provinces, later classified as SARS-CoV-2, which caused the development of COVID-19, and on March 9, 2020, a pandemic of coronavirus infection was announced. The main source of the disease is a sick person, including those in the incubation period. The virus is highly contagious and has an airborne, fecal-oral and contact-household transmission pathway. The disease can occur in the form of mild, moderate and severe forms; with the latter, the development of rapidly progressive lesions of the lower respiratory tract, pneumonia, acute respiratory failure, ARDS, sepsis and septic shock is noted. People over 60 years of age with concomitant pathology (diabetes mellitus, obesity, arterial hypertension) were the most vulnerable to coronavirus infection. As a rule, the viral etiology of the pathological process does not require mandatory and urgent appointment of antibacterial therapy, but very often viral pneumonia is complicated by the addition of bacterial flora. At the present stage, there is no specific criterion that would allow distinguishing between virus-associated lung damage and secondary bacterial pneumonia, and would also determine the need for antibiotic therapy, and therefore it is advisable to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the results of clinical, laboratory and instrumental examinations. An important role in determining the need to start antibiotic therapy with a subsequent assessment of its effectiveness is to determine the level of procalcitonin. Significant diagnostic criteria are also pronounced leukocytosis, a sharp increase in the concentration of C-reactive protein and specific data from computed tomography examination of the lungs. The decision on the appointment of antibacterial therapy for the attachment of secondary bacterial pneumonia should be based on a comprehensive assessment of the results of the examination, and the preventive appointment of antibacterial therapy to prevent the attachment of secondary bacterial microflora in coronavirus infection is not desirable.