In a desperate search for a cure to the deadly pandemic, many families have turned to fake remedies that has been spreading all over the social media. This includes a powerful form of illegal alcohol that was banned in the Islamic Region.
Kianoush Jahanpour, Iranian health ministry spokesman said that there are about 525 people that have died in hospital after drinking toxic methanol alcohol since February 20. According to Hossein Hassanian, an adviser to the ministry, another 200 or so died outside of the hospital because of ingesting alcohol.
In total, over 700 people have already died in Iran because of a false belief that drinking alcohol can help cure the coronavirus, officials said.
Alcohol poisoning
According to a government report released earlier this month, alcohol poisoning has become rampant in Iran as the country continues to fight the deadly coronavirus pandemic. 728 Iranians have already died due to alcohol poisoning between February 20 and April 7 compared to last year which only recorded 66 deaths.
Hassanian said that a total of 5,011 people across Iran have been poisoned from methanol alcohol sin mid-February.
The effects of alcohol poisoning include loss of eyesight or having serious damage to the eyes, according to Mr. Jahanpour. The tally for those people who lost their eyesight could be much higher than the recorded number, said Dr. Hassanian.
He added that, the country of Iran is fighting on two fronts today. They need to cure both people with coronavirus and those people inflicted by alcohol poisoning.
Iran: Facing the worst outbreak in the Middle East
The health ministry spokesman said on Tuesday that the death toll in Iran due to the coronavirus pandemic rose by 71 in the past 24 hours making the total to 5,877. Currently, Iran is facing the worst coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East.
Iran has prohibited the consumption of alcohol, but minority Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians are allowed to drink alcoholic beverages in private. Iran has also given permits to some 40 alcohol factories for pharmaceutical and sanitizing items.
The government of Iran has already mandated manufacturers of toxic methanol to add an artificial color to their products. Doing so could help the public to distinguish between methanol and ethanol, the kind of alcohol normally used in cleaning wounds.
Some bootleggers in Iran mix a splash of bleach to the methanol to mask the added color before selling it as drinkable. Since methanol is substances that cannot be smelled, they are hard to detect and when ingested can cause organ and brain damage. Some symptoms of toxic methanol poisoning include chest pain, hyperventilation, nausea, blindness, and coma.
Due to fake news spreading online since the beginning of the outbreak, public health officials around the world have struggled to combat a variety of false and dangerous information about the coronavirus including its potential "cures" and "remedies."
Some people are even calling them false and unreliable information regarding coronavirus that has been spreading around as a "disinfodemic" referring to the new avalanche of misinformation about COVID-19.of the pandemic.
