The President of Tanzania, John Magufuli, is sending a plane to Madagascar to fetch a herbal tonic touted as a cure for Covid-19 even as the World Health Organization (WHO) warned there was no proof of any cure.
Congo-Brazzaville’s president has also promised to import the drink.
It is produced from the artemisia plant – the source of an ingredient used in a malaria treatment.
The WHO also advised people against self-medicating.
The drink was launched as Covid-Organics and was being marketed after being tested on fewer than 20 people over a period of three weeks, the Malagasy president’s chief of staff Lova Hasinirina Ranoromaro told the BBC last month.