Study to examine effectiveness of Uganda’s herbal COVID-19 cure to start next week

Kampala, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT | Scientists exploring the possibility of finding a local cure for the Coronavirus disease-COVID-19 are set to start their trial next week. 

Dr. Monica Musenero, the Presidential Advisor on Epidemics, who is leading the team of researchers, told URN on Wednesday that they are finalizing documentation of the study, which will be submitted to Uganda National Council for Science and Technology by end of the week before they can start trying the medicine on patients.   

The proposed medicine, whose components are being kept top secret, will be tried on up to 300 participants who present with mild to severe disease. Although she doesn’t divulge details about the cure, Musenero says the treatment is a hundred per cent natural but will be taken to the factory for the appropriate mixture.  

The medicine is highly anticipated considering that the country is experiencing a spike in cases with daily infections going to the highs of 400 in a single day. For instance, on Tuesday, the country recorded 449 new cases. The country is living in fear of more lethal strains of the virus spreading elsewhere, which could find their way into Uganda.    

Musenero says they have different objectives with the new medicine and hope that it can defeat even emerging strains of the virus. The study could have started earlier but a recent blockage of the internet during the presidential and parliamentary elections crippled their work, according to the scientist. 

In terms of numbers, Uganda has recorded a cumulative number of 38,534 infections and 305 deaths. While a number of studies on COVID-19 treatment have happened in the country since the first case in March last year and some are still on-going, this will be the first local cure to be tried. 

The rest have been imported into the country from the West and China where the disease first broke out.  

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