Potential medicinal plant remedies and their possible mechanisms against COVID-19: A review (original) (raw)

2021, Ife Journal of Science

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak was first reported in Wuhan, a city in Hubei Province of China in December, 2019 and is known to be responsible for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). COVID-19 was declared a pandemic in March, 2020 and since then, it has caused a number of deaths in over 200 countries around the world. Extensive researches have continued in the search of effective vaccines or drug compounds against SARS-CoV-2 and a total of 64 vaccines are currently in clinical trials with 12 currently approved for use by different regulatory bodies, depending on the country. Since the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2, many countries have utilised traditional herbal medicines alongside conventional drugs for the treatment of infected patients. In this review, traditional medicines used to prevent or treat SARS-CoV-2 infection are listed along with the plant parts as used by the traditional healers. Additionally, the possible mechanisms responsible f...