4. Discussion
sore throat, thirst, fever, fatigue, cough, ache, headache, deaths
SORE THROAT, DISEASE
The world has been battling COVID-19 for over two years now, and seen over 400 million cases and nearly 6 million deaths [Amongst these studies, homoeopathic medicines have been tried for the prevention or treatment of COVID-19 patients, either as the sole treatment or as an add-on therapy. This work has also evaluated homoeopathic drugs for efficacy when used at particular stages of the disease [Before beginning the study, the authors identified a group of homoeopathic medicines that seemed to have the potential to treat COVID-19 and treated individual patients with the medicine that best suits them. Based on the flu-like symptoms including fatigue, sore throat, cough, fever, increased thirst, headache, body ache, and altered taste observed in the majority of COVID-19-positive patients, Bryonia alba, Arsenicum album, Gelsemium sempervirens, and Camphora were found to be useful homoeopathic remedies [As for the conventional treatment, there were stark differences in the intervention (SOC) in the two arms of the trial, namely–Vit C, Low-Molecular-Weight Heparin (LMWH), Remdesivir, Doxycycline and others. However, since the treatment protocol for both the groups was decided by the team of medical experts, these differences were unavoidable, as the plan of treatment sometimes varied from patient to patient, basis their severity and morbidity levels.A review of RT-PCR tests for the diagnosis of COVID-19 suggests that there are pitfalls in accepting the test as sacrosanct [The mortality rate is reduced by Remdesivir in trials where it was used for 14 days [The duration of oxygen support required was lesser in the treatment arm when compared with the SOC arm. In severe and moderate cases of COVID-19, the mean time taken was 9.84 ± 7.00 days in the treatment arm whereas it was 14.92 ± 7.55 days in the SOC arm, the differences were statistically significant. Most studies show that the average duration of oxygen support required in the severe cases of COVID-19 ranges between 18 and 20 days [This reduction in mortality, need for supplemental oxygen and shorter duration of hospitalization translates into many tangible and intangible benefits for the patients and their families, in terms of treatment costs and convenience, and its benefit cannot be understated.