Traditional Chinese medicine Lianhua Qingwen capsule has been proven effective for the treatment of COVID-19, China's top respiratory expert Zhong Nanshan said in a webinar with overseas Chinese students on Monday.  

"It's the first time in the world that we have enough evidence to prove Lianhua Qingwen capsule is effective and can help patients recover," Zhong said, adding they have just finished an experiment and the results are promising and will soon be published.  

Zhong said that, according to the experiment, the traditional Chinese medicine can weakly inhibit the virus and repair cell injuries and inflammation caused by the virus. For patients showing mild symptoms, Lianhua Qingwen would be more effective.  

For the treatment of COVID-19, the main effects of Lianhua Qingwen are as follows: First, after taking the capsule, patients' symptoms improve quickly, two days earlier than the control group. Second, CT scan result also shows that patients recover faster than the control group. Third, the capsule can shorten fever time.  

Many Chinese embassies from across the globe have been busying providing overseas Chinese students with health packs containing anti-epidemic guide and medical kits as the COVID-19 cases hit 3.57 million globally, with the death toll surpassing 250,000. And the traditional Chinese medicine Lianhua Qingwen has been included in the healthy packs prepared for overseas Chinese students.  

In addition, as for how to identify asymptomatic COVID-19 patients and take preventive measures, Zhong suggested that identifying and isolating asymptomatic people is a vital strategy in containing the spread of COVID-19.