Traditional Medicine and COVID-19

Abstract

On 31st December 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially reported an outbreak of ‘viral pneumonia’ in Wuhan, China. Since then, the disease, later identified as COVID-19 and declared pandemic by the WHO, has infected millions of people globally. As on 29th July 2021, the WHO has reported 195,266,156 confirmed cases of COVID-19 resulting in 4,180,161 deaths globally. Till date, 24 variants of the virus are being tracked by the WHO across the globe, with varying degrees of infectivity and subsequent mortality. On 12th July 2021, Dr Soumya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist ofWHOwarned that the pandemic is still not showing any signs of slowing down. New variants are causing concerns in over 104 countries, and with the rising infection rates, the number of cases is also increasing. We are thus, still in the middle of the pandemic. Most countries are going through the second wave or bracing for the third wave of the pandemic to sweep through their population. Due to the requirements of COVID-appropriate behaviour, the world economy has suffered to an unprecedented extent, with millions of jobs lost, livelihood of billions affected, and millions orphaned. Although there have been advancements in COVID-19 research, no definite answer seems to have emerged to manage the disease and, optimal vaccination remains a key prevention measure. The inability of the globally dominant allopathic medicine, to effectively manage the pandemic, has presented an unprecedented opportunity to traditional medicine (TM) practiced across the globe. Strengthened by their experience in using Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) effectively in the management of the SARS epidemic in 2003, the National Health Commission for People s Republic of China published a “Diagnosis and Treatment Protocol for Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia” on 3rd March 2020 [1]. The Protocol incorporated TCM interventions for mild, moderate, severe, and critical stages of the disease, and specified the TCM diagnostic criteria in each stage along with appropriate medicines. The reports from different provinces of China suggest that these interventions were used very effectively and may have contributed towards China s successful outcome in the pandemic. In India, the Ministry of AYUSH (MoA), Govt of India, published its first advisory for improving immunity and additional measures for prevention of infections in April 2020. This was widely popularised after Mr Narendra Modi, India s Prime Minister, during his address to the nation, requested the nation to follow the MoA guidelines, in addition to COVID protocols. A mobile app-based survey suggests that the AYUSH protocols were very well-received. Other than this, the MoA, Govt of India, soon came out with separate protocols for COVID care to be offered through its portfolio of TM systems (Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and