A door of an apartment is cordoned-off, during the second stage of a two-stage lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease , in Shanghai, China, on April 4, 2022.SHANGHAI — Shanghai is distributing to residents millions of boxes of traditional Chinese medicine , such as herbal products and flu capsules, which it says can treat Covid-19 in the battle to control its largest virus outbreak.
"For general public, including high-risk groups, taking TCM treatment when the epidemic is severe has good preventive effect," he told a news briefing on Tuesday, adding that such treatments for more than 21 million people had been handed out. China's health authority has recommended several TCM drugs and ingredients, such as Lianhua Qingwen, for use by Covid-19 patients, although a lack of reliable clinical data limits their use outside the country.
In 2020, the US regulator the Food and Drugs Administration, warned vendors of Lianhua Qingwen to stop selling it as a Covid-19 treatment.