A pharmacist weighs Chinese herbal medicines for patients infected with the novel coronavirus at Anhui Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Hefei, east China's Anhui Province, Feb. 18, 2020. (Xinhua/Bai Bin)

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) therapies should be included in novel coronavirus treatment at an early phase. TCM has shown great effectiveness in helping COVID-19 patients recover, and is particularly useful in preventing mild infections from progressing into severe or critical cases, experts said.

In Wuhan's makeshift Jiangxia hospital, which adopted a treatment plan integrating TCM and Western medicine, not one patient developed into a severe case since patients were first accepted on February 14, domestic news site 21jingji.com reported on Tuesday.

"We tailored TCM therapies for each patient based on their case differentiation, and made adjustments whenever needed," the report said, citing Zheng Fuzeng, deputy president of the Henan Province Hospital of TCM and leader of a treatment team at the makeshift Jiangxia hospital.

There are also TCM therapies available for patients in serious conditions, including a lung-clearing and detoxification decoction which has shown great effectiveness in preventing patients' conditions from worsening, and many gradually recover after taking the decoction, Zheng said.

The decoction was found to be 97.78 percent effective in clinical analysis based on 1,261 infections from 10 provinces in China, and no cases analyzed moved from mild to severe or critical, media reports said, citing Tong Xiaolin, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and head of a treatment group at the National Administration of TCM.

In the Jiangxia hospital, Zheng introduced other TCM therapies, including acupuncture, moxibustion and tai-chi exercises, which were also adopted to relieve patients' stress and improve immunity.

Though TCM was the main treatment method at the Jiangxia hospital, Western medicines were also used for patients who had underlying medical conditions and when patients needed emergency treatment; Western treatments included oxygen inhalation machines and electrocardiograph monitoring, Zheng said.

Global Times