Coronavirus: Herbal cure claim by Madagascar’s president

Madagascar’s president has come under fire for promoting what he says is a herbal cure for coronavirus, despite a lack of evidence it has any effect at all.

Andry Rajoelina (45), a businessman and former advertising executive who has been in power since last year, spoke at a launch for the herbal concoction on Tuesday, which has been labelled "Covid-Organics". He was photographed drinking the dark orange liquid himself.

“Tests have been carried out – two people have now been cured by this treatment,” he said, speaking at the Malagasy Institute of Applied Research (Imra), which developed the mixture. “We can change the history of the entire world . . . This herbal tea gives results in seven days.”

Mr Rajoelina said Covid-Organics should also be taken to avoid contracting Covid-19 in the first place. “Schoolchildren should be given this to drink . . . little by little throughout the day,” he said.

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The mixture is believed to have been made partially from artemisia, which is used to treat malaria, as well as other plants.

Packets of herbs

The World Health Organisation has reiterated that there is no known cure for coronavirus.

In an interview with the BBC, Lova Hasinirina Ranoromaro, the Malagasy president's chief of staff, said the touted cure had been tested on fewer than 20 people. Nevertheless, soldiers have nowbeen seen going door to door in the capital city, Antananarivo, handing out packets of the herbs, which they say should be mixed with water.

Madagascar, an Indian Ocean island nation off the southeast coast of Africa, currently has 121 confirmed cases of coronavirus and no reported deaths. The country is now easing lockdowns in areas most affected.

Military coup

Mr Rajoelina first became president in a military coup in 2009. Aged 34 then, the former DJ was Africa's youngest president. He stepped down in 2014 and was re-elected in late 2018. By the time of legislative elections the following May, more than half the country's MPs were under suspicion in a major corruption scandal.

Madagascar isn't new to controlling infectious diseases. In recent years, it has experienced two significant outbreaks of the pneumonic and bubonic plague. Then, as with Covid-19, there were many rumours about possible cures and the origins of the disease, with some citizens struggling to believe it was a real threat.

This week, Amnesty International called for Madagascar to release people in pre-trial detention, saying the country's prisons were almost three times over capacity and more than 75 per cent of male minors detained hadn't faced a trial yet.

The World Bank has warned that Covid-19 could force Ssub-Saharan Africa into its first recession in 25 years. Madagascar is already one of the poorest countries in the world.