Boiled Garlic Water For Treating Coronavirus? Not Really

A message hailing the powers of 'boiled garlic water' as the latest cure for fighting the deadly novel Coronavirus, has emerged online. BOOM did not find any scientific evidence supporting the theory that boiled garlic water helps in preventing or curing the virus which has so far claimed 259 lives.

The message reads "Good news, Wuhan's corona virus can be cured by one bowl of freshly boiled garlic water.Old Chinese doctor has proven it's efficacy. Many patients has also proven this to be effective. Eight (8) cloves of chopped garlic add seven (7)cups of water and bring to boil., Eat and drink the boiled garlic water, overnight improvement and healing. Glad to share this."

BOOM received this message on its WhatsApp helpline for checking its veracity.

This message is also viral on Facebook with the same claim that a Chinese doctor has recommended garlic water- chopped garlic cloves boiled with water, and there will be a overnight healing and improvement in health.

Fact Check

BOOM searched for the effect of garlic water on colds and Coronaviruses on major scientific portals such as Google scholar, Research gate, PubMed.

Studies have explained the link of garlic water with common colds. It is considered to be a common home remedy.

One of the papers published by professors of University of Gondar from Ethiopia states that garlic water has components that reduce common colds. But there are no studies outlining the effect of the same on the recent novel Coronavirus.

Fact checkers from Indonesia and Taiwan have debunked the same message as it went viral in their respective countries.

The World Health Organization has stated that currently there are no prevention or treatment mechanisms in place for the virus which is different from the regular common colds.

The garlic water treatment is an addition to a string of fake treatment and prevention messages floating around the Internet.

The current 2019-nCoV has claimed 259 lives in China and impacted over 11,300 cases across the world. The WHO has declared this emerging virus as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. Scientists have mapped the genomic sequence of the virus but are still researching for the source of the virus.

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