Explainer | Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and Covid-19 – what you need to know about its uses, including the one in Hong Kong’s anti-pandemic kit

As the Hong Kong government steps up the use of TCM to treat Covid-19, experts describe three branded formulas China recommends for use against the virus

One, Lianhua Qingwen, will be given to all Hong Kong households, but an expert says TCM is only for people with Covid-19 symptoms, and to ask if you have doubts

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Three branded traditional Chinese medicines, including Lianhua Qingwen, are being used in China’s fight against Covid-19.

Published: 7:15am, 31 Mar 2022Updated: 7:47am, 4 Apr 2022

To increase the use of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in Hong Kong’s Covid-19 fight, the city’s government plans to distribute kits containing rapid tests, KN95 masks and TCM formula Lianhua Qingwen to households in April.

During the city’s fifth wave of Covid-19 infections, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor asked the Chinese government to send TCM practitioners to Hong Kong. Seven specialists – the fourth batch of medical experts dispatched since the fifth wave began – arrived on March 29.

TCM practitioners in Hong Kong have been recruited to work at a makeshift treatment centre at AsiaWorld-Expo, on Lantau Island, to alleviate the symptoms of chronic illnesses commonly seen among older Covid-19 patients.

Sophia Chan Siu-chee, Hong Kong’s Secretary for Food and Health, says taking TCM can help in the prevention and treatment of Covid-19. On her blog in late March, Chan outlined a plan to subsidise TCM practitioners to provide free online consultations and distribute medicines to patients isolating at home.

Jinhua Qinggan is one of three branded TCM formulas China recommends for treating Covid-19. It comes in sachets and must be dissolved in water.

In January, China’s National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine presented a report on the use of TCM against the coronavirus to the World Health Organization’s Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The administration said Ghebreyesus received the study “with delight”.

Here is what you need to know about three traditional Chinese medicines being used against the coronavirus.