FG considers herbal treatment options as COVID-19 cases near 3,000
After coming under pressure, the Federal Government is finally considering the idea of a herbal treatment for the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Nigeria even as it had considered the Madagascar option in the past.
This is coming as the COVID-19 cases in Nigeria keep on climbing to almost 3,000 as at May 5, 2020.
The hint for herbal therapy was made by the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, who on Tuesday, said that the government has not ruled out the possibility of using local herbs to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
He however insisted that the Nigeria Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development must first certify the efficacy of such local drugs for them to be approved for administration on patients.
The Minister who spoke when the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 briefed members of the House of Representatives also said it was wrong for hospitals to turn back patients as a result of fear of COVID-19.
While assuring that government was not ruling out the possibility of using local herbs for the treatment of COVID-19, Dr. Ehanire said what the government was saying was that those who claim to have found cure should subject it to test by the Nigeria Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development.
According to him, local herbs can be categorised into drugs that can cure the virus or those that can reduce the symptoms, adding that “the body must be able to build the required antibodies to neutralise the virus”.
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Ehanire said: “Before now, it was said that Chloroquine can destroy the virus. But test are still going on in that regard. We have to test the efficacy of local drugs to see if it can kill the virus and also to find out that is in the process of killing the virus, it can affect the body.
So, the Institute will carry out the required test on the local drugs find out how it”.
He cautioned that doing so may result to another round of national health emergency since leaving other ailment unattended to can be fatal.
The Minister also said many people who are infested with the virus may not display any symptom and may innocently be infesting others with it, explaining that this explain the need for self isolation and staying at home.
“Those without symptom are capable of transferring the virus to other with less immunity and this is dangerous. The solution is to keep everybody in isolation,” he said.
While describing the situation in Kano as a sad, he said the Nigerian government is currently participating in various research to find a solution to the pandemic.
He however dismissed claims that the mysterious death in Kano was caused by COVID-19, adding that the PTF was still waiting for the result of tests carried out in Kano and therefore was not in a position to attribute the cause of death in the state to the pandemic.
In a related development, the Nigeria Centre For Disease Control (NCDC), has confirmed 148 new COVID-19 cases in the country, taking Nigeria’s total cases to 2,950.
Of the new cases, 43 are in Lagos, 32 are in Kano, while 14 are in Zamfara.
Ten are in the FCT, nine in Katsina, seven in Taraba, six in Borno and Ogun, five in Oyo, three in Edo, Kaduna and Bauchi, two in Adamawa and Gombe, and one each in Plateau, Sokoto and Kebbi.
