10 Fake Remedies Of Coronavirus That You Shouldn’t Follow

You cannot escape news about the coronavirus these days. It’s everywhere! This isn’t a surprise, as the pandemic has spread rapidly across the globe. However, as reports of coronavirus cases keep coming in, so does the steady stream of bogus claims on how to cure or prevent yourself from it.

For the record, the FDA (the US Food and Drug Administration) had issued an open letter, warning, “There currently are no vaccines, pills, potions, lotions, lozenges or other prescription or over-the-counter products available to treat or cure coronavirus disease.”

Despite these warnings, the hoax reports keep piling on. Since people are desperate for finding a cure to escape this disease, many of them latch on to any claim they can find, howsoever absurd they might be. While some of these claims are outright ridiculous, many are actually harmful and risky. Here, we have compiled some of the most absurd hoax cures to treat the novel coronavirus that should be completely avoided.

1. Eating garlic can protect you from the coronavirus

There have been plenty of social media posts in recent weeks claiming that eating garlic regularly will help prevent being infected by the coronavirus. That is untrue, however.

The WHO (World Health Organization) has stated that while garlic is “a healthy food that may have some antimicrobial properties”, there’s no evidence that eating garlic can protect people from the new coronavirus.

Eating garlic will be good for your health, undoubtedly. However, if you begin consuming it in large amounts, it might be harmful. There was a recent report of a woman who had to receive hospital treatment after she developed severe inflammation in her throat after consuming 1.5kg of raw garlic.

Thus, you should eat healthy food, but also be prudent about it. Most importantly, don’t depend on them to prevent you from being infected by the novel coronavirus.

2. You can kill the COVID-19 virus with a blow dryer

There have been some truly bizarre and ill-advised home remedies doing the rounds for treating the coronavirus. Nothing perhaps will top this: a YouTube and Facebook videos claimed that blowing your nose and mouth with the hot air from a hairdryer will cure the novel coronavirus. These videos were widely popularized, and they actually detailed how to increase the temperature in your nasal cavity in order to kill the deadly virus using a handheld hairdryer. The videos have since been removed from official platforms, but are still being circulated on WhatsApp leading to much confusion.

While there have been reports of heat killing the virus, there has been nothing conclusive on this and medical professionals are still studying the theory. Blasting your nose with a hairdryer, though, might actually cause you great harm.

“You could easily burn or more likely cause superficial damage to your eye, nose, and mouth lining by trying to breathe in hot air, which promptly damages your first line of defense against infection — an intact lining,” says Dr. Jill Grimes, an urgent care doctor.

3. Gargling can help stop coronavirus

Another fake report on the coronavirus cure that has really caught on is that the virus can be stopped by gargling warm salt water. Apparently, the rumor was that the virus embeds itself in the throat for four days before lowering itself into the lungs. Gargling with warm water could hence kill it in the throat itself.

“It won’t stop it from getting into the lungs,” says Dr. Paul Offit, an infectious disease expert at the University of Pennsylvania and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “What it could do is decrease inflammation, which would make your throat less sore.”

So you can definitely gargle to keep your throat healthy, but don’t expect that it will keep you safe against the coronavirus.

4. Drinking ‘Miracle Mineral Solution’ will protect you from the coronavirus

Some reports emerged that gargling or drinking bleach or ethanol will eliminate the coronavirus from your body. While it hasn’t been confirmed where this hoax cure emerged from, some famous YouTubers with a large number of followers certainly made the theory popular by sharing videos on their channels, claiming that a “miracle mineral supplement”, called MMS, can “wipe out” coronavirus.

Not only was this claim fake, but it was also incredibly dangerous.

This “miracle supplement” contains chlorine dioxide – a bleaching agent. The US Food and Drug Administration has already warned about the dangers to the health of drinking MMS. We must understand that chlorine dioxide is the active ingredient in disinfectants and is not meant to be swallowed by people no matter what anyone says. In fact, drinking these chlorine dioxide products can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, along with severe dehydration.

5. Colloidal silver kills some strains of coronavirus

US televangelist Jim Bakker recently promoted the use of colloidal silver on his show, saying that the solution kills some strains of coronavirus within 12 hours. For those who may not know, colloidal silver is a suspension of tiny particles of silver in a liquid. That this substance could combat the novel coronavirus was widely shared on Facebook and Twitter, and the theory quickly became viral. In fact, many “medical freedom” groups were seen actively propagating this theory.

Health authorities have, however, clearly denied these claims and have stated that there’s no evidence that this type of silver solution is effective for any health condition. In fact, the solution could cause serious side effects, such as kidney damage, seizures, and argyria (a bluish-gray discoloration of the skin). Furthermore, the FDA had issued a warning back in 1999 itself that colloidal silver isn’t safe or effective for treating any disease or condition.