COVID-19: Ghana yet to receive Madagascar's "supposed cure" - Oppong Nkrumah

Madagascar has offered Ghana a herbal tonic which has been touted as a cure for coronavirus by the Island nation.

According to Ghana's Minister of Information, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, Ghana has not yet received the herbal tonic as has been widely misreported.

"What we have said is that, Madagascar has reached out to us, with their supposed or their suggested cure and that we would test it through the FDA and Centre for plant medicine before making a decision," the Minister said at a press briefing on Thursday (May 21, 2020) in Accra.

"The brief as I have it is that we have not received this supposed cure from Madagascar".

Reversal

The Information Ministry in a tweet on May 19 (below) said Ghana had reached out to Madagascar for the cure but Mr Oppong Nkrumah now insists that Ghana did not request for the drug.

He said: "...I just want to be clear, the reports that Ghana has requested for or that we have received and we are testing a cure from Madagascar is incorrect, what we have said is that they have reached out to us as they have done to many other countries... What we will do is that we will test it...".

Madagascar's 'cure' is produced from the artemisia plant - the source of an ingredient used in malaria treatment. It has been credited for Madagascar's low COVID-19 death toll which currently stands at 2. The country also has 371 total cases.

The World Health Organization has said there is no proof of any cure and has advised people against self-medicating.

The drink was launched as COVID-Organics and was being marketed after being tested on fewer than 20 people over a period of three weeks, the president's chief of staff Lova Hasinirina Ranoromaro told the BBC.

In response to the launch of COVID-Organics, the WHO said in a statement sent to the BBC said the global organisation did not recommend "self-medication with any medicines... as a prevention or cure for Covid-19".

It reiterated earlier comments by WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus that there were "no short-cuts" to finding effective mediation to fight coronarvirus.

International trials are underway to find an effective treatment, the WHO added.