India now trying Ayurvedic medicines to cure coronavirus

New Delhi : While the world is busy finding a medicinal cure of the novel coronavirus, India is trying its hands on four ayurvedic medicines to cure the infectious disease, said AYUSH Minister on Thursday, adding that trials are likely to begin within a week.

The announcement comes two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked people to go 'vocal about local', in a bid to support small businesses in India.

Union Minister of State for AYUSH Shripad Y Naik, in a tweet, said, "The @moayush & the @CSIR_IND are working together on validating four Ayush formulations against #COVID19Pandemic and the trials will start within one week. These formulations will be tried as an add-on therapy and standard care for COVID-19 patients."

While the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is one of the world’s largest publicly funded scientific and industrial research organisations, the Ministry of AYUSH, which stands for ayurveda, yoga, unani, siddha and homeopathy, cultures with India’s traditional form of medicine.

Mr Naik said that he is positive about the development and believes that the country's traditional medicine system will show positive outcomes and will be beneficial in fight against coronavirus.

However, doctors have yet not found any concrete solution in the traditional medicine system of Ayurveda or in any other allopathic drug across the world. Even though plasma therapy is being resorted to for helping COVID-19 patients recover from the deadly virus in India, the treatment has not been proven as totally effective.