Herbal remedies growing in popularity globally

In the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic, traditional Chinese medicine has been found to boost immunity and relieve symptoms, thus prompting domestic TCM enterprises to find ways to use their remedies in the global anti-contagion struggle.

Jiuxin TCM donated 4,000 doses of its medicine to Chinese living in Kenya, Australia and the United Kingdom. Zhu Zhiguo, general manager of Jiuxin, said: "Over the past two months, during the hardest times of China's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, overseas Chinese and many others helped us. Today, COVID-19 is under better control in China, but it is now rampant in other countries."

He said the company's COVID-19 TCM formula, which was written according to the National Health Commission's guidelines on the prevention and control of novel coronavirus pneumonia, had played a crucial role in Wuhan's fight against the epidemic.

He Jun, dean of Italy-based Qihuang College of TCM, said that sharing TCM formula is an important way for TCM to go global. At first, TCM formula circulated overseas were only welcome among Chinese communities. As the epidemic situation became more severe overseas, non-Chinese also began hitting the stores to buy Chinese medicinal herbs, and TCM formulas grew in popularity.

As reported by Reuters, as COVID-19 rapidly spread across the United States, demand for TCM among the general population skyrocketed. Some immunity-boosting Chinese herbs, together with TCM granules, were quickly sold out.

"As TCM orders soared over a short period of time, many stores had to limit the amount customers could buy. Medical materials that originally took two to three weeks to sell out are now sold out in just a few days. We are thinking of a quicker way of inventory restocking," a TCM store owner in New York told Reuters.

Zhang Boli, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said the comprehensive, early and in-depth intervention of TCM during the fight against coronavirus was unprecedented and has achieved remarkable results. Domestic TCM companies should take credit for guaranteeing supplies of products.

When the contagion broke out in Wuhan in late December, Jiuxin actively shouldered the responsibility of guaranteeing TCM supplies. It shipped dozens of units of medicine-preparing equipment from Shanghai and other places, running 24 hours a day to ensure the supply of tens of thousands of Chinese herbal remedies.