Madagascar's Minister of Education Rijasoa Andriamanana has been fired after attempting to purchase the equivalent of about 2.2 million United States dollars worth of lollipops for schoolchildren to "mask" the bitter aftertaste of an untested herbal remedy for the Covid-19 coronavirus. According to local news outlets, Ministry Andriamanana proposed to give each student three lollipops, but the plans were called off after objections from Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina.

The untested herbal remedy is an artemisia-based drink marketed as Covid-Organics, and has been promoted by President Andry Rajoelina as a cure to the coronavirus. The artemisia plant is the source of an ingredient used in malaria treatment. While several nations have imported the beverage in an attempt to combat the spread of the virus, the World Health Organization warned that no proven cure currently exists. Meanwhile, Madagascar's National Medical Academy also doubted the President's claims, saying that rather than help combat the virus, the drink had the potential to damage people's health.

As of now, Madagascar's Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization have confirmed 975 cases of the Covid-19 coronavirus alongside 7 Covid-19-related deaths. So far, 201 people have recovered.      

Note: The statistics and numbers for this post were retrieved from Madagascar's Ministry of Health (http://www.sante.gov.mg/ministere-sante-publique/) and the World Health Organization (https://covid19.who.int/) at 18:01 local Vancouver time on June 5th, 2020. All images used in this article were retrieved from the public domain and can be used for any commercial purpose without attribution or citation.