As Hong Kong’s outbreak became the deadliest in the world, among the aid Beijing sent to the financial hub were 1 million packets of honeysuckle, rhubarb root, sweet wormwood herb and other natural ingredients, all mixed according to principles of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).
Practitioners of the centuries-old medicinal system argue such herbal combinations can be just as effective as antiviral pills like Pfizer Inc.’s Paxlovid.
"Unlike Western medicine that targets the virus itself, the way TCM works against COVID is to first effect change in the environment of our human body,” said Liu Qingquan, dean of Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine. "Once the environment changes, the virus can no longer survive.”