Coronavirus is scary as hell, I think that’s something we can all agree on. There’s a real fear around the spread of the disease that’s lead to panic buying all the toilet paper in the country, talk of cancelling the Olympics (on top of everything else that’s been cancelled), and even spikes in racism. That fear had led to a number of bogus coronavirus cures popping up, and in a scary twist, the fake cures are starting to kill people.
The fake cure that’s actually killing people has been reported in Iran. Behind China and Italy, Iran is dealing with one of the most deadly outbreaks – their health ministry currently reports 8000 confirmed cases and over 200 deaths.
A rumour has spread through Iran that drinking alcohol will cure you of the virus, and in a country where drinking alcohol is banned, you can only imagine how desperate people must have been to try it out. The most recent number is that 44 people have died from methanol poisoning, and seven bootleggers have been arrested.
Alcohol is far from the only rumoured coronavirus cure that’s done the rounds.
To start with the obvious, all the essential oils, teas, air purifiers, herbs, or colloidal silver in the world won’t cure coronavirus. If you’ve been told it will cure all of your ailments, it’s absolutely not going to do that.
As for the specific coronavirus ‘cures’, the French government had to put out an official notice that cocaine wouldn’t cure coronavirus. Turns out that people were telling each other that doing massive amounts of coke would keep them safe, and I’m not entirely sure how that worked out for them but they definitely aren’t protected.
Weed will not kill coronavirus either, although it really seems that people are hoping that their drugs will do something useful.
Bleach is also something that we’ve had to actively tell people won’t work. Yes, people were drinking what they were calling “miracle mineral solution” to cure themselves or ward off coronavirus. Want to know what miracle mineral solution is? Bleach. It’s industrial bleach. Don’t drink bleach.
Garlic water and sesame oil have been popular options too, but all that’s going to do for you is keep away vampires and make people on the bus hate you.
You want to know what will work? Wash your hands. Don’t go to work if you’re sick. Wash your hands again. Don’t do cocaine.
Always be in the loop with our snackable podcast breaking the biggest story of the day. Subscribe to It’s Been A Big Day For… on your favourite podcast app.