The Archbishop of Cameroon’s commercial capital, Douala, has denied reports that he has found a cure for Covid-19 but said he has been “studying plants for a long time”.

Local media reported last week that Samuel Kleda had been offering a free treatment “based on plants he says he knows”.

Archbishop Kleda told Cameroon’s Equinox TV that “taking into account the symptoms of people who are presented as infected with coronavirus, I apply recipes made from plants. I apply this treatment to them. They respond positively, that is, they feel better”.

He however warned that he did not say he “found a cure for coronavirus. That I did not say”.

The World Health Organization says it does not recommend “self-medication with any medicines… as a prevention or cure for Covid-19” and there is no proof that these can work.

International trials are under way to find an effective treatment, it adds.

After South Africa, Cameroon has the highest number of coronavirus cases in sub-Saharan Africa. Some 1,705 people have tested positive, 58 of whom have died.