The state government of Gujarat associated its ‘success story’ with the Ayush Ministry and said that quarantined persons in the state recovered from drinking an ‘Ayurvedic kadha’ to prevent COVID-19.

A kadha is a ‘concoction of various Ayurvedic herbs and medicines to boost immunity’.

Gujarat Government shares success story with Ministry Of Ayush regarding 6000 People in Quarantine benefiting from Ayurvedic Kadha. People who were in Quarantine and drank Kadha for the prescribed time tested negative for Covid-19@DDNewslive @DDIndialive @moayush @drharshvardhan pic.twitter.com/sW8S54cRkf

— DD News Gujarati (@DDNewsGujarati) May 6, 2020

This claim comes at a time when Ahmedabad announced a closure of all shops except those selling milk and medicines for a week as an urgent attempt to curb the spiralling cases of COVID-19 cases.

Ahmedabad reported 4,425 COVID-19 cases. The state in total has 6,625 cases with 273 deaths and the mortality rate at 6.1 per cent, as of yesterday.

Jayanti Ravi, the principal secretary of health and family welfare department, Gujarat, said that the ayurvedic medicines were given to as many as 3,585 people at a quarantine centre, while homoeopathic medicines were provided to 2,625 people.

‘Only eleven of these people tested positive for Covid-19, and that too happened because they were unable to complete the prescribed dosage. This goes to show that this experiment to provide ayurvedic and homoeopathic treatment, or prophylactic immunity-boosting treatment to those in quarantine, has worked quite well,’ she said.

Earlier this month, a confident Union Minister of AYUSH Shripad Naik said that British Crown Prince Charles was cured of COVID-19 with the help of alternative medicines, a claim that was later busted.

The AYUSH Ministry with the Health Ministry today launched clinical research studies on the use of Ayurveda as preventive medicine for COVID-19. The clinical trials would involve curative effects of Ashwagandha, Yashtimadhu, Guduchi with Pippali and a poly herbal formulation known as AYUSH-64.

These studies will be a joint initiative of Ministry of AYUSH, Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Science and Technology through the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) with support of ICMR.

Also Read: Modi Govt Sets Up Task Force For Scientific Validation Of Ayurveda For COVID-19 Treatment