Efforts to quarantine and use indigeneous plants to fight the coronavirus outbreak are described in this Spanish language article.
“Quina is a tall, broad-leaved tree found in the Amazon rain forest. Its bark has many medicinal qualities, like other species of the Cinchona genus, and was widely used against malaria, yellow fever, and flu-related viral illnesses…Other plants in which interest is put are ebanta (bark), guava, wild maga and matico, always used against flu-related illnesses.”
“Villca points out that ebanta has many properties and cures from stomach infections to intoxication, more so if it is combined with wild mage shell and matico, a preparation that can cure viral diseases such as the flu. They combine just like western medicine combines medications. The elderly transmit their knowledge on the appropriate amounts, doses for adults and children, or which part of the plant is the most appropriate according to the type of ailment…If we lose ancestral knowledge, we will be more vulnerable to diseases that even western science cannot overcome.”
“In 2016, Bolivian scientist Carla Maldonado discovered a new species of Cinchona, a medicinal plant for the treatment of malaria, where the bark of quina comes from, and was collected within the Madidi park and in the Chapare. The discovery was part of his doctoral thesis.”
"There is no doubt that the rainforest is probably the best natural pharmacy that humanity can have to face numerous diseases, even unknown ones, and for this reason we must take care of it and protect it," says Villca, who became widely known for its iron defense of indigenous territory against the project to build the El Bala and Chepete dams, in the Evo Morales government.”