Coronavirus: India starts clinical trial of Ayush medicines like Ashwagandha

The Union government on Thursday said that the health ministry has today started a clinical trial of traditional medicines like Ashwagandha, Yashtimadhu, Guduchi Pippali amid rising number of coronavirus positive cases in the country.

Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said, “the clinical trials of Ayush medicines like Ashwagandha, Yashtimadhu, Guduchi Pippali, Ayush-64 on health workers and those working in high risk areas has begun from today.”

The minister said the clinical trial would be done collaboration with the health ministry as an add-on to standard care to COVID 19 patients.

"The clinical trial would be done as a joint initiative of Ministry of AYUSH, Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Science and Technology through Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) with technical support of Indian Council of Medical Research," Dr Harsh Vardhan said.

The health minister said the Ayush ministry is also trying to study the impacts of Ayush-based prophylactic interventions in high risk population like health workers and those working in high risk areas.

Meanwhile, the coronavirus positive cases in the country reached 52,952, including 1,783 deaths, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said today.

Currently, there are 35,902 active cases while 15,266 COVID-19 positive patients have been cured/discharged and one has migrated, the ministry added.

Maharashtra has the highest number of cases with 16,758, followed by Gujarat with 6,625 cases and Delhi with 5,532 cases.