Neem leaves can slow down coronavirus, claims Chennai techie who found Vikram lander on moon

Amid India's race to bring a vaccine for Covid-19 by mid-August, Shanmuga Subramanian, a techie from Chennai who found the debris of Indian Space Research Organisation's Vikram Lander, which was dispatched in Chandrayaan-2, has claimed that neem leaves can slow down the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).

In his recent tweets, Shanmuga also claimed that he has got clinical proof in the treatment of some people who were tested positive for coronavirus.

CONFIRMED: "NEEM" leaves can slow down COVID19. Have got clinical proof in treatment of some patients! Soon will be publishing a paper on the same with a Ayush doctor #CoronaKillerNeem," Shanmuga Subramanian tweeted.

He continued, "Wait for the entire study to be published so that Government can take further action on it! I hope I will soon publish my research."

Shanmuga had been doing his research on how neem can be effective in treating patients with coronavirus. He also shared his research papers on Twitter and requested the Indian government to look into it to stop the spread of coronavirus in the country.

On June 28, Shanmuga said in a series of tweets, "Neem can attack COVID-19 on Multiple fronts &can be effective inhibitor as it's known for anti-viral, anti-inflammatory,anti-diabetic & also know to reduce Blood pressure levels.

How do you say Neem is effective? Nearly 20+ compounds in Neem show high inhibition against COVID-19 in Molecular docking | Molecular Docking is used to find compounds/drugs which can be effective against any virus.

Neem is well known for its anti-viral properties & has been subject of over 3000 scientific research papers. It has over 100+ compounds & has been found to be effective against HIV, Dengue,Herpes,SmallPox,ChickenPox etc.

Neem is also known to reduce diabetes & also Blood pressure.

Neem's anti-inflammatory potential are similar to Dexamethasone but less significant neverthless it can be used against COVID19.

I request Govt and the scientists to look into this as all these research papers prove Neem can attack COVID19 on Multiple fronts and the research needed to be speeded up on Neem & we have a chance to stop COVID19 immediately."

India sounds confident of Covid vaccine

Meanwhile, the government, on Sunday, said that it is entering the human trial stage which "marks the beginning of the end".

COVAXIN by Bharat Biotech and ZyCov-D vaccine by Zydus Cadila are India's own efforts to bring a vaccine for this pandemic. Along with the two Indian efforts, the world over, 11 out of 140 vaccine candidates have entered the human trial phase.

It also said that six Indian companies are working on a vaccine for COVID-19.

Allaying speculations about India's ability, the ministry of science and technology said, "In the past years, India has emerged as one of the significant vaccine manufacturing hubs. Indian manufacturers account for 60 per cent of vaccine supplies made to UNICEF." It added that regardless of which nation comes up with the Covid vaccine, they will have to depend on India for its ability for mass production.

Stressing the crucial role India plays in the vaccine, the government cited how two key players have inked contracts with India. Both -- AAZD1222 developed by Jenner Institute of the University of Oxford and licensed to AstraZeneca; and The MRNA-1273 vaccine developed by Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute "inked an agreement with Indian manufacturers for production of the Covid vaccines".

Talking about how Covaxin works, the ministry in a press statement explained, "The Bharat Biotech's COVAXIN uses the virus isolated from an Indian patient by the National Institute of Virology to develop the inactivated virus vaccine."

Earlier on July 2, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) head Dr Balram Bhargava wrote to 12 trial sites for the Covid-19 vaccine candidate, Covaxin, stating that all clinical trials need to be completed by August 15.

(With IANS Inputs)