Current global status and future development of traditional Chinese medicine in the prevention and treatment of coronavirus disease 2019

Abstract

Recognizing the potential of globalizing traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), this review summarizes the current global use of TCM for COVID-19, status of the internationalization of TCM, and strategy on globalizing TCM for COVID-19. COVID-19 is a novel coronavirus disease that has sparked a pandemic in March 2020 affecting over 110 countries. Although researchers have been racing to develop targeted anti-COVID-19 treatment and vaccine, they are still currently unavailable. Thus, in treating patients infected with COVID-19, western medicine mainly recommended symptomatic treatment and monitoring. Existing drugs are used in the context of clinical trials, and the FDA still not yet approved these drugs for COVID-19. On the other hand, TCM proposed herbal treatment for suspected individuals to take within their observation period, as well as for confirmed COVID-19 patients to take during active phase of disease and during recovery. In China, Integrative Chinese-Western Medicine had been used in treating 91.5% of COVID-19 patients and showed its strength in reducing disease severity, shortening recovery time, and lowering the mortality rate. Despite obstacles in globalizing TCM for the treatment of COVID-19, promoting appropriate use of locally registered TCM products may prevent disease in susceptible individuals, improve the quality of life, and assist in the recovery of COVID-19 patients. With increasing global acceptance, TCM may play a more important role in the battle against infectious disease in the future.