Carvativir Tests For COVID-19: A Traditional Herb Created By Catholic Holy Doctors Criticized By World Health Experts

Venezuela is presided over by Nicolas Maduro (Twitter / @ NicolasMaduro)

JAKARTA - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is promoting traditional medicine, Carvativir for the treatment of COVID-19. Maduro said that Carvativir is potent and without side effects. He dragged the name Jose Gregorio who was consecrated by the Roman Catholic Church.

A series of doctors questioned the benefits of Cartivir. According to them, there is no strong scientific evidence that proves the efficacy of Carvativir to treat COVID-19.

"It has been through a nine month study period, experiment, clinical application. To the sick, to the very sick, to the incubated person. And we recovered them," said Maduro, quoted by Reuters, 27 January.

Maduro added that the Carvativir liquid was a magic drop that Jose Gregorio Hernandez made. Hernandez is a 19th-century Venezuelan doctor who was made a saint by the Roman Catholic Church last year.

Even so, Maduro did not specify the active ingredients in Carvativir. Maduro said only that Carvativir had been tested on many patients in hospitals in Caracas and a sports center that was being turned into an emergency medical facility.

Meanwhile, the Venezuelan Ministry of Health has not provided a statement directly regarding Carvativir.

# EnVideo📹 | Pdte. @NicolasMaduro: Me están informando que YouTube censuró la cuenta de Venezolana de Televisión @ VTVcanal8 que sacó mi intervención el pasado domingo # 24Ene, donde expliqué la medicina Carvativir antiviral contra la COVID-19 # SaludParaElPueblo pic.twitter.com/nL6Q6xC

- VTV CANAL 8 (@ VTVcanal8) January 26, 2021

However, Venezuela's National Academy of Medicine has stated Carvativir has therapeutic potential to fight the virus from Wuhan. For this reason, they invite many parties to wait for the results of research and further data related to the Carvativir trial.

"However, it is wise to wait for more data from the Carvativir test. This is to consider him a candidate for anti-COVID-19 drugs,” said the statement.

Carvativir comes from thyme leaves. The herb Carvativir has been used for centuries by the Venezuelan people in traditional medicine. However, the influence of Carvativir still invites questions from world health experts.

"The treatment claim for the Carvativir brand for COVID-19 is not substantiated by any clinical data, but just as Maduro's press release, it might hit the social media tide for the high sublingual bakery & circus," tweeted Dr. Francisco Marty, an infectious disease expert at Brigham and Women's Hospital Boston on Twitter a few days ago.

So far Venezuela has confirmed 124,112 cases of COVID-19 transmission. Among them, there were 1,154 deaths.