Sébastien Le Belzic (in Beijing)
In China, the chaotic exit from “zero Covid” has led to tens of millions of contaminations in just a few days. Faced with this explosion in the number of patients, the government advocates traditional medicine and brings out old recipes whose effectiveness has never been scientifically proven.
A cocktail made from honeysuckle, rhubarb, apricot kernels and a dozen plants, this is the so-called miracle recipe for curing Covid-19. An elixir born more than 2,000 years ago and which was used until then to treat colds. As cases explode in recent days in China, the authorities are calling on the population to treat themselves at home and are touting certain traditional medicines whose sales are exploding.
“Asymptomatic cases and mild cases of Covid-19 are mainly treated with traditional Chinese medicine, while patients in severe or critical condition are treated with both Chinese medicine and Western medicine,” said Jia Zhongwu. , a traditional Chinese physician.
Foreign vaccines still banned
For Beijing, this recourse to traditional medicine is a good way to differentiate itself from Western countries while relying on recipes highly prized by the working classes. In China, foreign vaccines are still not authorized, so the avenue is opening up for these drugs, the effectiveness of which has never been confirmed by an international scientific study.
The country also announced on Monday the withdrawal of the application used to trace the movements of the inhabitants and to ensure that they were not in an affected area, a new symbol of the exit from the “zero Covid” strategy.