Where the entire world is already battling with this pandemic, we also have another major concern which is being surfaced now, and this concern is regarding the misinformation as well as fake news which is being spread all around the world. This issue of misinformation may sometimes sound funny for some but it can actually turn out to be really serious as well as dangerous for other who may actually believe them. Due to this COVID-19 now there are number of health advice which are coming up from different people without any proof or rather evidence. There are various influential personalities too responsible for the spread of such inexpert health advice. Here, are some examples of such unproven health advice which had spread in last few days in light of COVID-19.
Alcohol Consumption cannot stop the virus
This misleading information is not limited to any one such country but it had already spread to the number of countries and we had also witnessed the number of deaths that took place after many people in Iran they consumed alcohol in huge quantities and there were even cases which reported that there were many who even consumed the industrial purpose alcohol and thus, lost their lives.
Even in India, a senior member of the Congress Party, Bharat Singh said, “When coronavirus can be removed by washing hands with alcohol, then drinking alcohol will surely remove the virus from the throat”. This is just an amateurish health advice without any evidence.
And the World Health Organization (WHO) has made it clear drinking alcohol is not a way to stop the virus and could problems. The only time the WHO and other official health bodies refer to using alcohol is as a component in hand-cleaning gels.
Also Read: Coronavirus Disease: Myth vs. Fact
“Mineral Miracle Supplement”
There is a YouTuber with a huge number of followers, whose name is Jordan Sather, he also claimed that there is something called as “miracle mineral supplement” or MMS has a potential of wiping out the Coronavirus. This supplement contains chlorine dioxide which is a bleaching agent. This is again another instance of misinformation about which we need to clear each and every time, in order to save ourselves from ending up in to any kind of adverse situation.
Hold your breath to check the virus
There is one more unproven health advice, going viral from people to people. This advice says that in order to check that whether you are infected with the virus or not you must hold your breath for 30 seconds. And if you successfully do this then you are not infected with the coronavirus and in case you fail in doing so then this tells that you are infected with the virus. Again this claim was made by an influential as well as a popular yoga guru of India, Baba Ramdev. This claim made by the yoga guru is an untested one and worthless of being believed.
Mustard oil isn’t a successful cure
There is one more health advice, made by this yoga guru which is going viral and thus gaining more popularity among the individuals. This unverified advice is actually an extension of that breathing test which we explained in the above paragraph. Now, here what we need to do is, to take few drops of the mustard oil and while carrying out that breathing test, we need to take this oil in our body through the way of our nostrils, this oil would wipe out all the viruses, from our nose to our stomach and then in stomach it would be killed due to the acid which is present in our stomach.
Also Read: How COVID-19 is posing challenge to mental health of India?
Disinfectant and UV light claims have been widely shared
President Trump in one of his press briefing emphasized that the coronavirus infected patients can be treated by using two methods, in this one of his suggestion was of injecting the disinfectant in to patient’s body, and the other way which he proposed was exposing all the infected people to the ultraviolet rays or UV rays.
As the justification for the first method he stated that as disinfectant kills the germs outside the body, similar function it would carry out inside our body too. Using a disinfectant can kill viruses on surfaces. Thus , there are no evidences to support any of Trump’s suggestions or health advice. Thus, if a disinfectant is consumed or injected then it would only lead to poisoning and further to death.
And there is no evidence it has any effect against the virus. President Donald Trump also spoke of exposing patients to UV (ultraviolet) light. And there is some evidence viruses do not last as long on surfaces when exposed to direct sunlight. But it can cause a potential damage to human tissue. And there is no such evidence or proof of UV light being effective in treating those who are infected with the coronavirus.