A copy of an unsigned letter dated March 7 started circulating on the internet four days later. The letter said that following “extensive research, our findings show consuming alcoholic beverages may help to reduce the risk of infection by the novel coronavirus….” It went on to recommend vodka for “drinking, cleaning and sanitizing."
In another message (this went viral on WhatsApp most especially), unscrupulous elements tag the claim to American news-based pay television channel CNN.
“Alcohol kills coronavirus,” reads the text on what seems to be a screengrab of a CNN news broadcast shared on Facebook in Kenya. It shows CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer.
Text on the image below the screengrab reads: “Wacha tukunywe sasa.” That’s Kiswahili for “Let’s drink now.”
“The cure has been found,” commented the user posting it. “Tag mlevi mwenzako.” That means “Tag your drinking friend.”
But a reverse image search reveals that the screengrab is frequently manipulated to carry many different messages.
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Hence, that image and text it carried are spurious.
In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) had on its official Facebook page in February also quashed that erroneous belief.
To minimize coronavirus risk, use alcohol for sanitizing, not for drinking!
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