On April 24 2020, the Ministry of AYUSH promoted a herbal formulation called AYUSH Kwath for ‘immunity boosting’ of the masses for the COVID-19 pandemic. The ministry requested the State/UT governments to “direct the AYUSH Licensing Authorities... Read More
Author - Dr. Sumaiya Shaikh
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has written to Bharat Biotech India Ltd (BBIL) to step up the clinical trials for their jointly-developed COVID-19 vaccine (BBV152 COVID vaccine) or ‘Covaxin’. In the view of this news, a... Read More
Homeopathic drugs such as Arsenicum Album 30, promoted by AYUSH, do not boost immunity against COVID
Overview: Despite the order from the Ministry of AYUSH to prevent the public advertisement of AYUSH-related claims for COVID-19, many Indian states, particularly larger cities such as Pune, Vadodara, Mumbai have been found distributing homeopathy drugs... Read More
A person called Dheeraj Sharma posted a viral video on Facebook of Dr Parameshwar Arora MD (Ayurveda), a senior consultant at Sir Gangaram hospital, New Delhi addressing passersby on the street. Arora can be seen claiming in the video that he has five... Read More
Patanjali Ayurved launched an ayurvedic treatment kit called ‘Coronil’ as a ‘cure’ for COVID-19. Indian media outlets ran shows on the kit, referring to it as a ‘breakthrough’ in coronavirus treatment. Ram Kisan Yadav, popularly... Read More
An opinion piece published on Livemint by Sandipan Deb claimed that COVID-19 will not affect Indians as they have the genetics for a sturdier immune system. When questioned on Twitter, the author, also a founder of Swarajya Magazine, cited a Nature... Read More
On March 19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a 29-minute address to take precautionary measures including observing a ‘Janta Curfew’ on March 22 from 7 AM to 9 PM to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in India. Since then, several social media... Read More
Several messages circulating on social media have made claims regarding the lifespan of the coronavirus outside the human body. CLAIM 1. If the coronavirus falls on a metal surface, it lives for 12 hours. 2. If the coronavirus falls on fabric, it... Read More
The outbreak of the novel coronavirus has given rise to medical advisories floating on social media and in the media. One such advisory promotes the use of soap. CLAIM However, several people are sceptical about the effectiveness of soap and how it can... Read More
The outbreak of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has led to medical advisories circulating on social media. Alt News recently debunked a viral text falsely accredited to the UNICEF. This was also shared by businessman and Priyanka Gandhi’s husband... Read More