Ambulance sirens wail almost incessantly, the hospitals are swamped and the sports stadium has been turned into a 250-bed field hospital.

Hospital officials in Madagascar's capital Antananarivo say they are struggling to cope with a rush of coronavirus patients despite the distribution of a herbal drink touted as a remedy by the president.

A drink made from a bright-green fern-like plant is being promoted in African countries as the go-to cure for COVID-19.

The President, Muhammadu Buhari has given approval that the drug to fight the vicious Coronavirus may be brought in from Madagascar. He does not see any harm in bringing in the drug as long as it is validated and it works. It is not clear whether we are paying for it or not. Some believe the drug is an allocation and Nigerian is not placing orders for it. The President’s nod has predictably been engulfed in a controversy. The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria is aghast, describing bringing in what it calls COVID Organics as importing “coal into New Castle.” It fights shy of calling it a scandal, but does say it is a shame.

Medical experts in the country, including pharmacists, nurses and laboratory scientists, have opposed the plan by the Federal Government to import a herbal tonic...

The World Health Organization on Thursday advised governments to clinically test a herbal drink touted by Madagascar's President Andry Rajoelina as a remedy against coronavirus. 

Unarmed Madagascar soldiers went door-to-door in the capital Antananarivo, doling out sachets of a local herbal tea touted by President Andry Rajoelina as a powerful remedy against the novel coronavirus.