COVID-19 has had an impact on human quality of life and economics. Scientists have been identifying remedies for its prevention and treatment from all possible sources, including plants. Nigella sativa L. (NS) is an important medicinal plant of Islamic value. This review highlights the anti-COVID-19 potential, clinical trials, inventions, and patent literature related to NS and its major chemical constituents, like
thymoquinone. The literature was collected from different databases, including Pubmed, Espacenet, and Patentscope. The literature supports the efficacy of NS,
NS oil (NSO), and its chemical constituents against
COVID-19. The clinical data imply that NS and NSO can prevent and treat
COVID-19 patients with a faster recovery rate. Several inventions comprising NS and NSO have been claimed in patent applications to prevent/treat
COVID-19. The patent literature cites NS as an
immunomodulator,
antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, a source of anti-SARS-CoV-2 compounds, and a plant having protective effects on the lungs. The available facts indicate that NS, NSO, and its various compositions have all the attributes to be used as a promising remedy to prevent, manage, and treat
COVID-19 among high-risk people as well as for the
therapy of
COVID-19 patients of all age groups as a monotherapy or a combination
therapy. Many compositions of NS in combination with countless medicinal herbs and medicines are still unexplored. Accordingly, the authors foresee a bright scope in developing NS-based anti-COVID-19 composition for clinical use in the future.