Coronavirus: Why drinking water advice dries out evidence

First there was the bizarre suggestion that it can be cured with cocaine. As the erroneous idea circulated widely on social media, the French government had to quickly issue a statement saying that it does not. Then Unicef had to issue a statement when fake news came that avoiding ice cream might help fight coronavirus - it also does not. 

In India, people are throwing cow urine parties to prevent themselves from coronavirus, even after experts are reiterating that it does not work.  

Now people are spreading another wrong information worldwide. "Drinking water can help prevent infection of coronavirus" - this is also a piece of terrible wrong information. 

The original post said, "We should make sure our mouths and throats are always moist, and drink water every 15 minutes," - the logic behind this is to wash the virus down the oesophagus, so it that it can be killed by the gastric acid of our stomach which has a pH of between one and three, reports BBC. 

Kalpana Sabapathy, a clinical epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said, "The idea is not full proof - for example before reaching out to your stomach, your nostrils might already have them."

Even if the virus has not already managed to find its way inside the cells of your respiratory tract, it can also get into the body in other ways. While some people might become infected by touching their mouth with contaminated fingers, it can also enter the body by touching the nose or eyes.

And there is another reason the water-drinking technique might not work. No matter how strong our gastric acid is in fighting viruses, study has shown that coronavirus can be more robust than this.  

In 2012, after Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) emerged from Saudi Arabia, researchers discovered that the pathogen – which is a coronavirus and relative of Covid-19 – is "considerably resistant" to the slightly diluted acid that humans produce just after they have eaten. 

They found proof that the virus has managed to colonise cells from the intestine and penetrated the barrier of infecting a person with the virus. 

It is easily refutable more strongly because this rumour is not based on any logic or fact. Rather, a precautionary measure has been spread all over as a mandatory step of prevention. 

Sabapathy says that though telling people to keep their mouths moist and drink water every 15 minutes might sound harmless; it is important to squash this kind of misleading advice quickly.

Because then people will believe that, "I am drinking water regularly, so I'm safe," which is both a piece of wrong information and deadly misconception to carry at this moment. 

The overwhelming evidence suggests that the best approach remains to avoid unnecessary social contact and washing your hands. So her advice is to put down the water and pick up the soap instead.