‘Coronavirus-free’ Turkmenistan’s president claims licorice can cure Covid-19
- Without citing any scientific evidence, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov claimed that ‘licorice root stops the coronavirus from developing’
- The country maintains that it has detected zero cases – even after UK’s envoy in Ashgabat reported he had contracted Covid-19
“Scientists from every country are looking for effective cures, running various studies, and one of them could be licorice root,” the leader of the authoritarian ex-Soviet country told ministers.
Without citing any scientific evidence, former dentist Berdymukhamedov claimed that “licorice stops the coronavirus from developing” and “even a weak concentration of a water-based extract has a neutralising effect.”
Turkmenistan has “sufficient reserves” of licorice, he added, ordering the national academy of sciences to study the plant’s supposed health effects.
Berdymukhamedov had already in March recommended that people “systematically” burn wild rue, a strong-smelling plant believed to have medicinal properties, to combat the coronavirus, sending prices skyrocketing.
The leader has a long history of moves aimed at boosting his country’s fauna and flora.
