No fewer than 55 coronavirus patients in Madagascar who were treated with a herbal drug produced in the country have recovered from the disease.
L’Express de Madagascar reports that the patients were among those that were administered the drug known as COVID-Organics since it was launched in April.
It stated: “The same day that the CVO herbal tea was launched, two coronavirus patients who consumed it came out cured.
“Until yesterday, fifty-five people have been declared cured since the adoption of CVO herbal tea treatment twenty days ago.”
It added that to aid the fight against COVID-19, the drug is being distributed freely in parts of the country.
Madagascan President, Andry Rajoelina had last month launched a herbal remedy, named COVID-Organics, which he claimed could prevent and cure the disease.
According to the Malagasy Institute of Applied Research, which developed the beverage, the herbal remedy is produced from artemisia, a plant with proven efficacy against malaria, and other indigenous herbs.
Although the World Health Organization, WHO advised people against using untested remedies for COVID-19. “Africans deserve to use medicines tested to the same standards as people in the rest of the world,” WHO, the United Nations health agency, said in a statement last week Monday.
But Madagascar president claimed, at the launch, that the remedy, COVID-Organics, had already cured two people. “This herbal tea gives results in seven days,” Rajoelina, 45, told journalists and diplomats in April.
According to Aljazeera on Monday, April 5, soldiers went door-to-door in the Indian Ocean island country, which has reported 149 cases and no fatalities, dispensing the concoction.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also warned people against using unproven remedies.
“There is no scientific evidence that any of these alternative remedies can prevent or cure the illness caused by COVID-19. In fact, some of them may not be safe to consume,” the CDC said.
The African Union, AU however said it was in discussion with Madagascar with a view to obtain technical data regarding the safety and efficiency of the herbal remedy.
In an attempt to reassure people and brush aside safety concerns, Rajoelina took a dose of Covid-Organics at the launch event and said it was safe to be given to children.
Despite warnings from the WHO that its efficacy is unproven, Tanzania disclosed, on Friday, it has received its first shipment of Madagascar’s self-proclaimed, plant-based “cure” for coronavirus.
Aljazeera reports that Madagascar has since been giving away thousands of bottles of the product free of charge to countries across Africa, including Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia and Guinea-Bissau.
