China relies on traditional medication to struggle COVID surge in Shanghai

SHANGHAI, April 6 (Reuters) – Shanghai is distributing to inhabitants millions of packing containers of conventional Chinese medication (TCM), this sort of as natural items and flu capsules, which it states can deal with COVID-19 in the battle to regulate its most significant virus outbreak.

China’s business funds, now underneath an extended lockdown, described far more than 17,000 new COVID-19 bacterial infections on April 5, together with 311 symptomatic scenarios, among a populace of additional than 26 million. read through much more

“Struggling with the exceptionally transmissible Omicron variant, we should really use TCM treatment as shortly as possible,” explained Fang Min, president of the city’s Shuguang Medical center.

“For normal general public, like high-possibility groups, using TCM procedure when the epidemic is critical has very good preventive impact,” he explained to a news briefing on Tuesday, including that these therapies for additional than 21 million individuals experienced been handed out.

Numerous residents told Reuters they experienced gained no cost boxes of around-the-counter flu medicine Lianhua Qingwen from neighbourhood committees in the latest weeks. Some others who caught COVID mentioned they acquired TCM medicine to be dissolved in warm drinking water.

About 98% of Shanghai’s COVID-19 patients are taking TCM treatment, and groups of TCM employees have fanned out to selected hospitals and quarantine web-sites considering the fact that the most current outbreak started in March, Fang mentioned.

China’s health and fitness authority has recommended a number of TCM medicines and substances, this kind of as Lianhua Qingwen, for use by COVID-19 individuals, though a deficiency of reliable scientific info boundaries their use exterior the place.

Singapore, which has a substantial ethnic Chinese inhabitants, stated in November there was no scientific proof from randomised scientific trials that any natural merchandise, such as Lianhua Qingwen, could be utilised to avert or take care of COVID-19.

It suggested the use of all organic products and solutions formulated for frequent chilly and flu only to handle signs or symptoms this sort of as complications, runny or blocked noses, sore throats and coughs.

In 2020, the U.S. regulator the Food and Medicines Administration, warned distributors of Lianhua Qingwen to prevent providing it as a COVID-19 procedure.

Officers in Shanghai’s district of Hongkou have distributed 722,000 packing containers of Lianhua Qingwen capsules, and goal to give all inhabitants preventive TCM medicines such as herbs and tea luggage, mentioned the Shanghai Everyday, which is owned by the nearby federal government.

Shijiazhuang Yiling Pharmaceutical (002603.SZ), the maker of Lianhua Qingwen, has explained a 2020 medical demo showed that it could, along with typical therapy, reduce COVID-19 signs these kinds of as fever and cough.

China approved quite a few treatment options which includes Pfizer Inc’s (PFE.N) Paxlovid and Brii Biosciences Ltd’s (2137.HK) antibody-primarily based drugs to deal with COVID sufferers, but it is not crystal clear how greatly they are utilized.

Reporting by Brenda Goh and Roxanne Liu Writing by Miyoung Kim and Clarence Fernandez

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