A review on evidence-based clinical research in traditional medicine for combat COVID-19

Covid-19, caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a life-threatening disease that has been declared a global pandemic. Even with the intervention of numerous medical systems to combat Covid-19, an effective remedy is not yet in sight rather than supportive therapies accompanied with anti-viral drugs and vaccines. The usage of these medicines has caused for unexpected side effects, and at present, various mutant forms of this virus have been identified from different countries. Hence, the necessity of an effective treatment regimen is highly expected. The attention direct towards Traditional Medicine (TM) is increasing day by day as it is well known for immune modulation. Therefore, this review was conducted with the aim of systematically reviewing the relevant literature of TM based on clinical studies conducted on Covid-19 patients and provides a summary on the evidence-based potential use of TM in the treatment of Covid-19. This review was conducted by using the databases;Science direct and PubMed for studies published from 1st of December 2019 to 1st of February 2021. In order to obtain further data, a manual search was also carried out. After scrutinizing all the articles, there were 29 total articles included in this present review. The evidence suggested that TM could regulate immunity and gives anti-viral, anti-inflammatory effects along with disease management and prevention. However, if these treatment modalities have any public health implications, further randomized controlled trials in humans will be needed.