President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 to accept the consignment of a herbal tea touted as a cure for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) from the government of Madagascar.
Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina launched the herbal tea, named COVID-Organics, last month, claiming that it has cured coronavirus patients.
The herbal tea produced by the Malagasy Institute of Applied Research (IMRA), was created from the Artemisia plant which has been used in malaria drugs.
Even though Madagascar’s national medical academy has warned that no scientific evidence has been established that COVID-Organics works, the government started handing out the herbal tea for free to citizens.
News reports over the weekend also indicated that samples of the herbal tea have been shipped to other African countries, including Nigeria.
When quizzed by a journalist about the report during the daily briefing of the PTF on Monday, May 11, 2020, the chairman of the task force, Boss Mustapha, said Nigeria’s allocation has been sent to Guinea-Bissau.
“I have received instructions from Mr President to make arrangements to freight it home with a clear instruction that I should subject it to the validation process, similar to what would happen to any other medicine or serum, or vaccine that is created internally,” he said.
