Authorities are not willing to recommend Maldivian traditional medicine, or Dhivehi Beys, to treat Covid-19 patients, given that there is no known cure for the disease.

Dr. Ali Latheef, member of the Covid-19 Technical Advisory Group (TAG), said this in response to a question asked at the press conference held on Saturday afternoon.

Noting that the treatment being used in the country is the same as elsewhere in the world, the doctor emphasized that there “is no special cure for this disease”.

Hence, he said that they will not recommend Dhivehi Beys for the treatment of Covid-19 patients.

A total of 141 people has tested positive for Covid-19 in the Maldives thus far, and 17 have recovered. There have been no deaths.

The country recently received 50,000 hydroxychloroquine tablets from India, which has been touted as a “game changer” by American president Donald Trump. But after research done on the use of HCQ on Covid-19 patients, US FDA has warned against the use of the tablets whilst treating patients.

While there is some controversy over the use of HCQ, Maldivian authorities had said that it is being used as per guidelines provided by health experts.