ECOWAS: Nigeria’s NAFDAC to test Malagashy Covid-Organics before it is authorized

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has received several sachets of artemisia-based tea, which the Malagasy authorities praise as a remedy against the new coronavirus.

The Covid-Organics will be tested by NAFDAC, the agency in charge of food and drug control in Nigeria, before being made available.

Visiting President of Guinea-Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, handed over the potion to his Nigerian counterpart Saturday in Abuja.

Muhammadu Buhari, who is officially leading the response to Covid-19 on behalf of ECOWAS, is in line with the positions of the World Health Organization: Covid-Organics must first be tested by scientists.

NAFDAC will examine Covid-Organics through laboratory analysis and medical evaluation.

Usually the verification of any product takes over 3 months. But for the Malagasy drug artemisia, it should be accelerated according to Dr. Abubakar Jimoh, NAFDAC’s director of public relations. This agency will verify the presumed safety and efficacy of Covid-Organics, but without conducting clinical trials at this stage.

Despite the use of Artemisia, Madagascar Saturday recorded its first death from Covid 19. The country reported 304 cases of the novel coronavirus but reported no death until May 16.