Medicinal plants are the fundamental unit of traditional medicine system in Nepal. Nepalese people are rich in traditional medicine especially in folk medicine (ethnomedicine), and this system is gaining much attention after 1995. The use of medicinal plants has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic as a private behavior (not under the control of government). A lot of misinterpretations of the use of medicinal plants to treat or prevent COVID-19 have been spreading throughout Nepal which need to be managed proactively. In this context, a research was needed to document medicinal plants used, their priority of use in society, their cultivation status, and the source of information people follow to use them. This study aimed to document the present status of medicinal plant use and make important suggestion to the concerned authorities. This study used a web-based survey to collect primary data related to medicinal plants used during COVID-19. A total of 774 respondents took part in the survey. The study calculated the relative frequencies of citation (RFC) for the recorded medicinal plants. The relationship between plants recorded and different covariates (age, gender education, occupation, living place, and treatment methods) was assessed using Kruskal-Wallis test and Wilcoxon test. The relationship between the information sources people follow and the respondent characteristics was assessed using chi-square test. The study found that the use of medicinal plants has increased during COVID-19 and most of the respondents recommended medicinal plants to prevent COVID-19. This study recorded a total of 60 plants belonging to 36 families. The leaves of the plants were the most frequently used. The Zingiber officinale was the most cited species with the frequency of citation 0.398. Most of the people (45.61%) were getting medicinal plants from their home garden. The medicinal plants recorded were significantly associated with the education level, location of home, primary treatment mode, gender, and age class. The information source of plants was significantly associated with the education, gender, method of treatment, occupation, living with family, and location of home during the lockdown caused by COVID-19. People were using more medicinal plants during COVID-19 claiming that they can prevent or cure COVID-19. This should be taken seriously by concerned authorities. The authorities should test the validity of these medicinal plants and control the flow of false information spread through research and awareness programs.

中文翻译：

---

在尼泊尔使用药用植物预防COVID-19

药用植物是尼泊尔传统医学体系的基本组成部分。尼泊尔人民拥有丰富的传统医学，尤其是民间医学（民族药），该体系在1995年之后受到了广泛关注。在COVID-19大流行期间，药用植物的使用已作为一种私人行为而增加（不受政府控制） 。关于使用药用植物来治疗或预防COVID-19的许多误解已经散布到整个尼泊尔，需要积极加以管理。在这种情况下，需要进行一项研究，以记录所使用的药用植物，其在社会中的使用优先级，其栽培状况以及人们跟随使用它们而来的信息来源。这项研究旨在记录药用植物的使用现状，并向有关当局提出重要建议。这项研究使用基于网络的调查来收集与COVID-19期间使用的药用植物有关的主要数据。共有774位受访者参加了调查。该研究计算了记录的药用植物的相对引用频率（RFC）。使用Kruskal-Wallis检验和Wilcoxon检验评估了记录的植物与不同协变量（年龄，性别教育，职业，居住地和处理方法）之间的关系。人们采用卡方检验评估了人们遵循的信息来源与受访者特征之间的关系。研究发现，在COVID-19期间，药用植物的使用有所增加，并且大多数受访者建议药用植物预防COVID-19。这项研究记录了60种植物，这些植物属于36个科。植物的叶子是最常用的。姜是被引用最多的物种，被引用的频率为0.398。大多数人（45.61％）从他们的家庭花园中获取药用植物。所记录的药用植物与受教育程度，家庭位置，主要治疗方式，性别和年龄段显着相关。在COVID-19造成的封锁期间，植物的信息来源与教育程度，性别，治疗方法，职业，与家人住在一起以及住所位置显着相关。人们在COVID-19期间使用了更多的药用植物，声称它们可以预防或治愈COVID-19。有关当局应对此予以认真对待。