Jia Zhongwu, an official from the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said at a news conference on Friday that traditional Chinese medicine is an indispensable and irreplaceable part of the "Chinese plan" for the epidemic prevention and control.

He said the World Health Organization has affirmed the effectiveness and safety of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of COVID-19 at an expert assessment meeting.

"TCM treatment is mainly for the asymptomatic and those with mild symptoms. For severe and critical patients, we use both Chinese and Western medicine treatment," he said.

Liu Qingquan, president of the Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said at the conference that clinical practice has proved that the effect of the combination of Chinese and Western treatment is remarkable, especially in treating the symptoms of fever, sore throat, cough and fatigue caused by COVID-19.

Studies have shown that traditional Chinese medicine has inhibited the virus from invading and replicating itself, he said.