June 5, 2021: As the world is battling against deadly Coronavirus, a team of researchers is investigating how green tea could give rise to a drug capable of tackling Covid-19. According to lead author Suresh Mohankumar, one of the compounds in green tea could combat the coronavirus.

Meanwhile, Mohankumar said, “Nature’s oldest pharmacy has always been a treasure of potential novel drugs and we questioned if any of these compounds could assist us in battling the Covid-19 pandemic? We screened and sorted a library of natural compounds already know to be active against other coronaviruses using an artificial intelligence-aided computer programme.”

Mohankumar further said, “The compound that our model predicts to be most active is gallocatechin. It is present in green tea and could be readily available, accessible, and affordable. There now needs to be further investigation to show if it can be proven clinically effective and safe for preventing or treating Covid-19.” The study was published in the journal RSC Advances.

Meanwhile, Andrew Morris, Professor at Swansea University said, “This is fascinating research and demonstrates that natural products remain an important source of lead compounds in the fight against infectious diseases. I am also really pleased to see this international research collaboration continuing now that Mohankumar has joined the Pharmacy team.”

India has been witnessing a gradual decrease in daily coronavirus cases. According to the Union Health Ministry, India reported 1,20,529 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours. While, the cumulative count of the cases stands at 2,86,94,879. With 3,380 deaths in the last 24 hours, the death toll has increased to 3,44,082.