Remedies

Traditional Chinese medicine pharmacists prepare herbs to produce doses of concoctions they say helps combat the coronavirus pandemic at the Xiaogan Chinese Medical Hospital in Xiaogan City, in central China's Hubei province, in February. China’s National Health Commission reported last month that of the more than 80,000 people infected with COVID-19 since the outbreak began in December, 90 percent took some form of traditional Chinese medicine to treat their symptoms. "TCM mixtures can be toxic, contaminated or adulterated with prescription drugs; they can also interact with prescription drugs," Ernst said. It can also give patients a false sense of security, leading them to neglect proven medications or therapies. "It is a legal health system in China which is parallel with West...

As COVID-19 blasts its way across the globe, viral wellness videos, tweets, and social media posts are springing up in its wake. Whatever the platform, these blitzes share the same underlying message: Certain supplements and natural remedies can prepare your immune system to do battle against the infection caused by the novel coronavirus. “Anybody who’s making specific medical claims needs to supply a quality body of evidence,” says David Stukus, an immunologist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio. “It’s really important to investigate before taking claims at face value.” So far, says John Mellors, chief of infectious diseases at the University of Pittsburgh, no randomized clinical trials have shown vitamins or natural remedies to be effective in treating or preventing COVID-19. ...

A pandemic, by definition, reaches everybody. There are now reports that the coronavirus has reached Turkmenistan, one of the world's most isolated and closed states. In recent years, the gas-rich desert state has suffered a protracted economic downturn, leaving observers to wonder how Turkmenistan's public services will cope with a full-blown humanitarian emergency. True to form, Turkmen officialdom is keeping quiet about bad news on the horizon. They have barely mentioned the word “coronavirus,” which has not appeared on any government website after one cursory mention on March 5. That same day, citing medical sources in the capital Ashgabat, RFE/RL's Turkmenistan service wrote that there are probably at least two confirmed coronavirus cases in the country. According to Chronicles ...