Beijing promotes traditional medicine as 'Chinese solution' to coronavirus

Xiong Qingzhen, a Wuhan-based drone engineer, spent more than two weeks in a makeshift hospital in February receiving treatment for coronavirus, the respiratory disease causing a global health crisis.

Every morning and evening, the 38-year-old was handed a bag of brown soup -- a traditional Chinese remedy blended from over 20 herbs including ephedra, cinnamon twigs, and licorice root, CNN reported.

But unlike most patients around him, Xiong was skeptical of its efficacy and refused to drink it.

"In my opinion, it is a sheer placebo," said Xiong, who was discharged in late February from the makeshift hospital run by TCM doctors where no western medicine was provided, apart from medication for underlying conditions, such as high blood pressure.

The 'lung-clearing and detoxing soup' as the herbal compound he was given is called, was part of the Chinese government's push to use Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in the fight against the novel coronavirus outbreak.

As scientists race to find a cure and vaccine, China is increasingly turning to its traditional remedies. As of late last month, more than 85 per cent of all coronavirus patients in China -- about 60,000 people -- received herbal remedies alongside mainstream antiviral drugs, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology.

"We are willing to share the 'Chinese experience' and 'Chinese solution' of treating Covid-19, and let more countries get to know Chinese medicine, understand Chinese medicine and use Chinese medicine," Yu Yanhong, Deputy Head of China's National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, was quoted as saying at a press conference last week.

There is no known cure for the pandemic disease which has killed more than 6,000 people, sickened over 1,15,000 and spread to every country and region worldwide, apart from Antarctica.

Scientists are working to find ways to stamp out the deadly virus. But for now, the mainstream antiviral treatments focus on relieving the symptoms -- and that's where China believes its ancient remedies can help.

Last week, a few Australian scientists had reportedly claimed that drugs used to treat HIV and malaria could be used to tackle the coronavirus.

"By adjusting the whole body health and improving immunity, TCM can help stimulate the patients' abilities to resist and recover from the disease, which is an effective way of therapy," Yanhong said, adding that traditional medicine had helped fight viruses in the past, such as the SARS pandemic in 2002 and 2003 that killed hundreds in China.

So far, more than 50,000 novel coronavirus patients have been discharged from hospital, and the majority of them used TCM, Yu said, citing it as evidence for the efficacy of using Chinese and Western medicine in tandem.