BEIJING — Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been widely applied in the treatment protocols for locally-transmitted COVID-19 cases and asymptomatic carriers currently being reported in China, according to the national TCM authority on Dec 16.

Bing Yuanyuan, an official with the National Administration of TCM, said that TCM has played a primary role in treating COVID-19 patients with mild and ordinary symptoms such as fever, cough and fatigue, while for those more severely ill, customised treatment featuring integration of TCM with Western medicine is employed.

TCM has also been used to improve recovery of discharged patients and protect from infection close contacts under quarantine and workers on the forefront of anti-epidemic work.