Madagascar President Rajoelina Gives up on his Cure CVO as Covid19 cases in the Country surge. Calls for International Community support.

In late April 2020, Rajoelina launched a traditional remedy ‘Covid Organics’ (CVO), a herbal concoction he claimed could prevent and cure the novel coronavirus.

Rajoelina urged citizens to protect themselves from coronavirus by drinking the herbal beverage.“Drink this herbal tea to protect yourselves, to protect your families and your neighbours, there will be no more deaths’’ said the President of the Island nation while taking a sip of the concoction.

Known under the scientific name of Artemesia Annua, a plant grown widely in Malagasy that helps in treating Malaria, Covid Organic was distributed free of charge.

This saw Madagascar send the CVO to several African countries, including Tanzania, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Niger and Senegal.

The World Health Organisation, Africa CDC, and other medical research centres warned against the use of the traditional remedy without medical supervision.

Since previous week, Madagascar appeared to be pulling in different directions in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic after a statement by the government criticised the Minister of Health for requesting international assistance to cope with a surge in COVID-19 cases.

Even as the government has been promoting and distributing a herbal tonic, Covid-Organics, which President Andry Rajoelina claimed can prevent and cure the disease, the Health minister Ahmad Ahmad wrote a letter to international agencies appealing for help.

The promotion and distribution of Covid-Organics has continued despite the World Health Organisation opposing it due to a lack of clinical trials to determine its efficacy in fighting the coronavirus.

“Over the past weeks, the Covid-19 epidemic has evolved in a very critical way in Madagascar with notable flare-ups in certain regions, particularly in Antananarivo,” the letter said.

In it, the ministry gave a list of what it termed as its “most urgent needs” which included oxygen bottles, ventilators, face masks, gloves and medical blouses.

Public hospitals in the capital Antananarivo said on Monday that they have been overwhelmed by the number of patients due to a spike in cases.

In what seems like a Presidential U-turn on the hyped herbal Covid-19 ‘cure’, Rajoelina, a former disc jockey unleashed a series of tweets saying the nation will win against the virus, Sunday morning.

“We are inaugurating the CTC-Treatment centre in Mahamasina, which can accommodate 250 patients with severe forms,’’ tweeted Rajoelina on Sunday morning.

He also launched CovData, a digital platform that will help in consolidating medical data including the numbers of beds, ventilators, and coronavirus patients being treated in health facilities.

The head of state urged the nation to show unity and solidarity in the fight against the pandemic.

The Indian Ocean island nation has so far recorded 8,866 cases, 5,579 recoveries and 78 corona-related deaths.The government has imposed stringent measures to combat the virus, including lockdowns in various regions, as cases spike.