Some weeks after developing a herbal mixture claimed to be capable of dealing with the coronavirus, Madagascar, yesterday recorded its first death from the disease.
Reuters reports that the deceased, a 57-year-old medical worker, had underlying health issues identified as diabetes and high blood pressure.
Spokesman of the COVID-19 task force in Madagascar, Hanta Danielle Vololontiana, who confirmed the incident said: “A man died from COVID-19 in Madagascar … he is 57 years old and a member of the medical staff.”
Madagascar’s President, Andry Rajoelina, has repeatedly defended the controversial homegrown remedy for Covid-19 despite an absence of clinical trials. “It works really well,” he said of the herbal drink Covid-Organics.
The drink is derived from artemisia – a plant with proven anti-malarial properties – and other indigenous herbs.
He claimed that if a European country had discovered the remedy, people would not be so sceptical. “What if this remedy had been discovered by a European country, instead of Madagascar? Would people doubt it so much? I don’t think so,” he said in an interview.
But the World Health Organisation, WHO, warned that the Covid-Organics drink has not been clinically tested.
COVID-19: Madagascar records first coronavirus pandemic death
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