Madagascar has so far reported 238 Covid-19 cases with no deaths and 112 recoveries. Their president attributes this to a Madagascan herbal remedy.
There is no proof yet that the herbal tonic controversially touted by Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina cures Covid-19, but the World Health Organisation said it had initiated steps to test it.
Also Scientists at Germany’s Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam are among a group of researchers from Germany and Denmark collaborating with the US company ArtemiLife to explore whether the Artemisia plant can be used against the novel coronavirus.
“It is the primary examination where researchers are exploring the capacity of these plant substances regarding COVID-19,” said the leader of the investigation, Peter Seeberger.
The cell study will utilize test separates from the Artemisia annua plant, otherwise called sweet wormwood, just as subordinates confined from the plant, for example, artemisinin.
An Artemisia compound has for some time been utilized as a treatment for malaria.
Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina touted a potion containing an Artemisia extract and other herbs as a “miracle cure” for the coronavirus.
He has claimed that the product could cure a patient within 10 days, and that 20 people in his country have been “cured”
“No one will stop us from moving forward. Not a country, not an organisation,” he told France24’s Marc Perelman and RFI’s Christophe Boisbouvier.
“What if this remedy had been discovered by a European country, instead of Madagascar. Would people doubt it so much? I don’t think so,” he said.
“What is the problem with Covid-Organics, really? Could it be that this product comes from Africa? Could it be that it’s not okay for a country like Madagascar, which is the 63rd-poorest country in the world… to have come up with (this formula) that can help save the world?” Rajoelina said.
Artemisia was imported to Madagascar from China during the 1970s and has antimalarial properties. It has likewise been broadly utilized in South Africa for illnesses like coughs, colds, fever, loss of appetite, colic, headache, earache, intestinal worms and malaria. It’s known as wildeals in Afrikaans, umhlonyane in isiXhosa and isiZulu, and lengana in Setswana.
Media in Africa have plugged the drink’s potential, and several African countries have placed orders for the herbal tonic, sold under the name COVID Organics.
The World Health Organization, however, warns on its website that there is “no evidence to suggest that COVID-19 can be prevented or treated with products made from Artemisia-based plant material.”
The researchers anticipate results before the finish of May at the most recent. If Artemisia is found to be effective in these trials, further tests including clinical studies on humans, would still need to take place.
