China has formed a unique plan to treat COVID-19 by combining the use of both Western and traditional Chinese medicines, a TCM expert said.

Huang Luqi, deputy head of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said at a news conference on Tuesday that TCM has unique advantages in treating the virus.

"Patients with light and ordinary symptoms can depend on TCM alone, while those with more pronounced symptoms can choose to combine TCM with Western medicine," he explained.

"For mild symptoms, TCM treatment can speed up recovery and alleviate clinical symptoms. And for severe ones, using TCM as a preventive treatment can inhibit the virus and keep the symptoms from developing into more critical ones, thus reducing the mortality rate," he added.

The plan's success was fully affirmed in a World Health Organization report in March last year, Huang said.

TCM can also be used treat symptoms including cough, fatigue and sweating once a patient's nucleic acid turns negative, he said.