Do alcoholic drinks like Beer, Whiskey, Rum and ‘Tongba’ help fight Coronavirus or Covid-related ailments as claimed by several social media users?
During Lockdown 2.0 that started in April 2021, several Nepali social media users including Tiktokers posted videos and photos claiming alcohol can help fight Covid-19.
But wait. Just last year, in the summer of 2020, nearly 800 people were thought to have died in Iran in West Asia – a little over 3,000 kilometers away from Nepal by air — as a result of Covid misinformation as claims that “alcohol consumption can helps fight Coronavirus” spread like wildfire across the country.
In July 2020, at least ten people died in Prakasam district in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh after allegedly consuming sanitizer hoping that the high alcohol content in it could help them get drunk. The victims were alcohol-dependent, according to media reports.
A year after such tragedies were reported by the media, posts by several social media users in Nepal have gone viral on platforms like TikTok claiming alcohol as a remedy to fight Coronavirus or Covid- related ailments.
Fact Check/Verification
Fact Check/Verification
Although sanitisers with high concentration of alcohol are used to disinfect hands and surfaces which could have been exposed to germs including Coronavirus, consumption of alcohol doesn’t help people fight Covid. According to World Health Organization, “alcohol, especially heavy use, weakens the immune system and reduces the ability to cope with infectious diseases.”
In fact, scientists the world over haven’t yet been able to manufacture a sure-shot medicine to fight Covid; they have been using a range of different medicines & treatments – such as Paracetamol, light antibiotics, anti-viral drugs such as Remdisivir etc depending upon symptoms — to treat Covid patients. Several vaccines have been developed, too, to fight boot antibodies and herd immunity.
Conclusion: Alcoholic drinks do not help in the fight against Coronavirus or Covid-19; they make the matter even worse. In fact, as the WHO says, consumption of alcohol by Covid patients could prove fatal.
Result: False
Also Read: Did China and Nepal cause flooding in Bihar, UP?
Our sources:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-53755067
https://www.tiktok.com/@theprabhatkhatri/video/6866372961838845185
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