India Faces Real Threat Of Coronavirus But Politicians Continue With Bizarre Claims To Fight It

Coronavirus started making headlines outside China somewhere in mid-January, and since then there have been several claims made by our politicians and public figures, which are misleading and are also dangerous for the society.

Most of these revolve around how coronavirus, which has no cure according to modern medicine can be treated with traditional medicine. Another claim that was making rounds was that coronavirus only affects non-vegetarians.

This was mostly because the virus outbreak was first reported at a seafood market in Wuhan, were all kinds of exotic meat including wildlife was traded as delicacies. These claims too have been rejected by the scientific community. But the unsubstantiated claims keep coming.

The latest to join the bandwagon is West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh.

"Mothers and sisters travelled a long distance after fasting to offer puja. This is our culture and we see it everywhere in India. This is the identity of our country and we are progressing like this," Ghosh said on Tuesday.

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"The entire world is scared of the coronavirus and millions are staying at home. Those who have conquered the whole world reached the moon... they are scared of coming out of their homes," Ghosh added.

"And look at what is happening here... Thousands of people have come out to offer puja. They are drinking water and using the same hands to have the prasad... Nothing will happen, they have the blessings of the almighty," he said.

Recently the Union Health Ministry in its coronavirus advisory had urged avoid any large gatherings to reduce the risk of the spread of the virus.

This had put the Attukal Pongala, an annual festival at a Kerala Temple, attended by millions of women at risk.

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However, Rajya Sabha MP and BJP leader Suresh Gopi had alleged that the concern over coronavirus spread is being used to create panic among devotees.

Another public figure, former Kerala DGP TP Senkumar had also had joined the debate and claimed that coronavirus won't survive at a temperature of above 30 degrees. He had cited UNICEF as the source of his information.

Medical professionals rejected the claim and remained the former top cop that UNICEF stands for United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund and that another UN body, the WHO is the authority on health-related issues.

AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria had also said research states that humidity in the air generally helps the virus to grow.

"But the rise in the temperature does not necessarily mean this will help kill the virus," he said, noting that tropical countries like Singapore, which has a hot and humid climate, also face the threat of coronavirus.

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Another misleading claim that has been made over and over is how cow dung and cow urine can treat coronavirus.

Since the outbreak began any number of people, including Hindu Mahasabha chief Swami Chakrapani, Sanjay Gupta, the Bharatiya Janata Party legislator from Laksar area in Haridwar and Suman Haripriya a BJP MLA from Assam have said that coronavirus can be treated with cow dung and urine. These, once again are based on zero scientific backings.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had recently claimed that deadly diseases like coronavirus can be eliminated by regularly practising yoga.

¡°The Indian tradition needs to be understood more deeply as it has tremendous things to offer through yoga. The world is waging a war against mental and physical illnesses. If these are cured, then no one will suffer from blood pressure, heart attack, kidney failure, liver failure or even coronavirus for that matter,¡± he said.

Recently the Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa Rigpa and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) of India released two advisories via PIB on the preventative and treatment measures that can be taken for the coronavirus epidemic. One of the advisories was using the homeopathy drug Arsenicum album 30 as a ¡®prophylactic medicine¡¯ for the prevention of the infection.

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This too has been rejected by the scientific community as baseless and misleading.

Recently the World Health Organization (WHO) had warned about the spread of an infodemic - which is defined as "an overabundance of information ¡ª some accurate and some not ¡ª that makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when they need it."