Ethnobotanical Survey on Medicinal Plants for Treatment of Covid-19 Symptons on Human Used by Indiginious People of Sekhukhune, Limpopo, South Africa

The COVID-19 pandemic has been termed as the most consequential global crisis since the World Wars. The first line of defences against the COVID-19 spread are the non-pharmaceutical measures like social distancing and personal hygiene which only reduce the spread. In this study, an ethnobotanical survey was conducted to document the indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants used to treat Covid-19 . Using semi-structured interviews and questionnaires, ethnobotanical data were collected from 35 traditional healers in Sekhukhune region. The results showed that 47 plant species were used to manage respiratory livestock diseases. Plant leaves were commonly used, being crushed in water, and administered orally or topically. During the survey, it was noted that this forty seven plants were traditionally used by indigenous people to treat various human and veterinary diseases such as basic first aid for pneumonia, respiratory, flu, bronchitis, tonsillitis, influenza ,TB and chronic conditions like anthrax or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The information provided in this study would bring new insights on the development of environmental friendly, effective medicines and vaccines to control human and veterinary diseases in the future especially the covid-19. Future research directions for data-driven COVID-19 research are also debated. We hope that the article will provide the scientific community with an initiative to start open source extensible and transparent research in the collective fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.