Expert: Chinese medicine Lianhua Qingwen capsule proven effective for COVID-19

The traditional Chinese medicine capsule Lianhua Qingwen has proved effective in the treatment of COVID-19, top Chinese breathing expert Zhong Nanshan said Monday in a webinar with Chinese students abroad.  

"This is the first time in the world that we have enough evidence to show that Lianhua Qingwen's capsule is effective and can help patients recover," said Zhong, adding that they had just completed an experiment and the results were promising and would soon be published.  

Zhong said that experience has shown that traditional Chinese medicine can weakly inhibit the virus and repair cell damage and inflammation caused by the virus. For patients with mild symptoms, Lianhua Qingwen would be more effective.  

For the treatment of COVID-19, the main effects of Lianhua Qingwen are as follows: First, after taking the capsule, patients' symptoms improve rapidly, two days earlier than in the control group. Second, CT scan results also show that patients also recover faster than the control group. Third, the capsule may reduce the duration of fever.  

Many Chinese embassies around the world are working to provide Chinese students abroad with health kits containing an anti-epidemic guide and medical kits, while cases of COVID-19 have reached 3.57 million worldwide, with more than 250,000 deaths. And traditional Chinese medicine Lianhua Qingwen has been included in health kits prepared for Chinese students abroad.  

In addition, with regard to how to identify asymptomatic patients with COVID-19 and take preventive measures, Zhong suggested that identifying and isolating asymptomatic individuals is a key strategy to contain the spread of COVID-19.