Traditional Chinese medicine to treat COVID-19: the importance of evidence-based research

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) broke out in 2019 and spread rapidly around the world, causing a global pandemic. Traditional Chinese medicine has a history of more than 2,000 years in the prevention and treatment of epidemics and plagues. In guidelines on fighting COVID-19, the National Health Commission (NHC) has recommended some traditional Chinese medicines (TCM), including Jinhua Qinggan granules, Lianhua Qingwen capsules, XueBijing injections, a Qingfei Paidu decoction, a Huashi Baidu decoction, and a Xuanfei Baidu decoction. Based on current results, TCM has displayed some efficacy in combating COVID-19. However, TCM faces many challenges in terms of being recognized around the world. Therefore, evidence-based research is crucial to the development of TCM.