COVID-19: MYTHS & FACTS

COVID-19 is a viral disease that is first reported in Wuhan in December 2019, and now it became a pandemic. In the early stage of this pandemic, China dealt with it efficiently by imposing strict lockdown all over the country to ensure social distancing and to stop human interaction. The Chinese policies in coping with COVID-19 bore fruitful results, and as a result, the situation is now under control in China, and there are negligible amounts of new cases in China. Since no vaccine is available at the moment, therefore traditional methods are used to treat this viral disease, which increased the recovery rate.

Symptoms & Methods

The common symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, fatigue, cough, shortness of breath, and loss of taste and smell. There are various traditional methods or home remedies that are available to treat these symptoms, and using it showed positive effects on COVID-19 patients. But in actual, these conventional methods and home remedies are only preventive measures, not the curative measure. Some people, including quack doctors, called it a treatment of COVID-19, which results in the widespread use of things whose usage without any prescription of doctor leads to many harmful effects on humans, which already have blood pressure, sugar, heart and kidney diseases. So there are certain myths and facts about such traditional treatments or home remedies.

MYTHS & FACTS ABOUT COVID-19

Myth No. 1:

Exposing yourself to the sun or temperatures higher than 25 degrees Celcius prevents COVID-19.

Fact:

There is no proof of prevention from COVID-19 at high temperatures. Even high-temperature regions of South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh) suffered from this deadly disease.

Myth No. 2:

COVID-19 affects only older people.

Fact:

COVID-19 can infect people of all ages. Older people are affected by it due to pre-existing diseases (such as diabetes, asthma, and heart disease). Although the death rate is about 8.9% in people having >60 age and 0.4% in people having <40 age in fact, it is due to a better immune system of people having a lesser period nor due to the myth.

Myth No. 3:

Eating garlic protects you from getting COVID-19.

Fact:

Garlic is a healthy food that may have some antimicrobial properties and may have some benefit for preventing the common cold. However, there is no clinical evidence that eating garlic has protected people from COVID-19. Excess use of it can cause skin rashes, headaches, vomiting, and heartburn.

Myth No. 4:

Taking a hot bath prevents you from COVID-19.

Fact:

It does not protect you from getting COVID-19 as the average temperature of the human body remains around 36.5°C – 37°C, regardless of the temperature of your bath or shower.

Myth No. 5:

The extract from senna leaves prevents you from COVID-19.

Fact:

It does not protect you from getting COVID-19. Instead, it will increase your chance of getting COVID-19 because the extract of senna leaves used in case of constipation and overuse of it can cause abdominal disorder, which weakens your immune system. As a result, there will be more chance of getting COVID-19.

There are a lot of myths related to COVID-19, which may have some plus point in recovery from COVID-19, but there is no clinical evidence. The only cure is prevention (use of masks, gloves, avoid gathering, wash hands for 20seconds after every hour, take minimum 8 hours sleep in the night) and take proper diets, which will boost your immune system slightly affecting it. That is the only way to protect yourself from COVID-19.