Screen grab from the Laging Handa briefing last June 30, 2021.
The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has released research findings that lagundi (Vitex negundo or Chinese chaste tree) helps hasten recovery from Covid-19 symptoms.
Covid-19 patients were given lagundi recovered after seven to eight days with no adverse effects, said Science and Technology Secretary Fortunato Dela Peña in the Laging Handa government briefing on June 30 (Wednesday).
Dela Peña said Covid-19 patients who were given placebo treatment or treatment without lagundi also recovered.
“Lahat naman sila ay gumaling. Ang pagkakaiba lang nila ay una, ‘yung mga naglagundi ay madaling nagbalik ang kanilang pang-amoy. Pangalawa, ‘yung mga pasyenteng nag-take ng lagundi ay mas unang nawalan ng sintomas,” Dela Peña said.
(All of them recovered. The only difference is that the patients that were treated with lagundi recovered their sense of smell immediately. Second, patients that took lagundi were quicker to recover from the symptoms.)
The lagundi clinical trial involved 278 participants with mild cases from the Quezon Institute and University of the Philippines quarantine facility, said Dela Peña. Hazel N. Camba