Tragedy struck the Madagascarn parliament on Sunday after two lawmakers – a member of the Senate and one deputy – died from COVID-19 complications.
The country’s President Andry Rajoelina who announced this also disclosed that eleven other deputies and 14 senators also tested positive for the virus.
Rajoelina had boasted of the country’s breakthrough in the fight against the disease after he launched a local herbal concoction which he claimed prevents and cures the virus.
He has since been promoting the brew for export, saying it is the country’s “green gold” which will “change history”.
Madagascar had on July 5 placed its capital Antananarivo under a fresh lockdown, following a new surge in infections, two months after the restrictions were eased.
The country has so far recorded 2,573 infections including 35 deaths with the government estimating that the peak will not be reached until the end of August.
Madagascar’s ‘green god’, COVID-Organics, a tonic derived from artemisia — a plant with proven efficacy in malaria treatment — and other indigenous herbs, have not been validated by any scientific study.
