Hot weather, Garlic and Hot Water are not remedies against COVID19
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared that no research organization has come with a vaccine or an antiviral drug that can cure novel coronavirus infection (as on March 16th). However, in South Asian countries where indigenous medical practices are established, people have resorted to sharing various social media posts that claims to prevent or […]
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared that no research organization has come with a vaccine or an antiviral drug that can cure novel coronavirus infection (as on March 16th). However, in South Asian countries where indigenous medical practices are established, people have resorted to sharing various social media posts that claims to prevent or cure the infection.
Facebook post of Asanka Galappaththi carried a post with banner “කොරෝනා වෛරස් නිව්මෝනියාව වියළි කැස්සක් මෙන් වෙන අතර එය හඳුනාගත හැකි සරළම ක්රමය එයයි. එය තාපයට ඔරොත්තු නොදෙන අතර අංශක 27ක පරිසරයකදී විනාශ වේ. වෛරසය වැළක්වීමට හැකි තරම් උණු වතුර පානය කරන්න. වැඩිපුර ඉඟුරු ගම්මිරිස් සුදුළූණු ආහාරයට ගන්න. හැකිනම් සූර්ය තාපයට නිරාවරණය වන්න. හැමෝටම දැනගන්න බෙදාහරින්න”.
Translated to English as “Coronavirus pneumonia is similar to a dry cough and that is the simplest way to diagnose it. It would get destroyed in an environmental temperature of 27 degrees Celcius. Drink more hot water. Consume garlic, ginger and pepper. If possible be exposed to sunlight. Share this post with everyone”.
| Facebook Link | Archived Link |
| Facebook Link | Archived Link |
This information was shared on multiple websites as well
| News Link | Archived Link |
Fact Check
We searched the website of World Health Organization (WHO) for information about COVID-19 infection and came across a ton of information clearing doubts and myths surrounding the novel virus. This is what WHO says about the symptoms of Coronavirus infection.
“Common signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. In more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death.”
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We studied the report themed “Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) advice for the public: Myth busters” published by World Health Organization.
“From the evidence so far, the COVID-19 virus can be transmitted in ALL AREAS, including areas with hot and humid weather. Regardless of the climate, adopt protective measures if you live in, or travel to an area reporting COVID-19. The best way to protect yourself against COVID-19 is by frequently cleaning your hands. By doing this you eliminate viruses that may be on your hands and avoid infection that could occur by then touching your eyes, mouth, and nose.”
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This report also emphasized that consumption of garlic is not a prevention method against COVID-19 infection. Garlic has been widely known for possessing qualities that aid in the prevention and treatment of various illnesses, but scientific evidence supporting that garlic helps in curing or reducing the effects due to COVID-19 is nonexistent. Given below is the WHO version of it.
“Garlic is a healthy food that may have some antimicrobial properties. However, there is no evidence from the current outbreak that eating garlic has protected people from the new coronavirus.”
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World Health Organization also emphasized that drinking water too frequently is also not a preventive measure that can be adopted against COVID-19. We found this post on the twitter message of WHO Western Pacific Region. “While staying hydrated by drinking water is important for overall health, it does not prevent coronavirus infection”
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FactCrescendo carried out a fact-check few days back on how consumption of Onion, Salt and Water Cannot Cure Coronavirus as well.
Through its Twitter handle, WHO has shared seven simple steps that can be helpful in preventing Corona Virus infection.
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We even noticed number of reports such as this, on how restaurants were trying their level best to instill COVID-19 best practices for guests who continue to dine out. Some restaurants have resorted to taking off the wine glasses, salt and pepper shakers etc. from the table as a precautionary measure.
Conclusion
Our fact check reveals that there is no scientific proof that hot and humid weather conditions or drinking warm water and consumption of garlic, onions and other spices can prevent the spread of novel Coronavirus infection.
Hence, we conclude that Facebook pages carrying posts that propagate the above mentioned claims are totally misleading.
Title:Hot weather, Garlic and Hot Water are not remedies against COVID19
Fact Check By: Sathyajith SubasingheResult: False
