COVID-19 TRAGEDY: Several people dead after taking wrong drug to cure virus

Amidst the ongoing crisis of coronavirus in most countries of the whole world, and the yearn for vaccines to be produced to put an end to the tolling deaths recorded so far due to the outbreak of the virus, it has been reported that about 700 Iranian have died after the consumption of toxic methanol alcohol.

In a desperate search for the cure to the COVID- 19 pandemic, families in Iran have given in to rumors speculating that toxic methanol alcohol can be used to cure the virus.

Iranian health ministry spokesman, Kianoush Jahanpour, disclosed that about 525 people have died in hospital for drinking toxic methanol alcohol since 20 February while 200 more have died due to alcohol poisoning outside of hospital according to an adviser to the ministry, Hossein Hassanian.

Consumption of alcohol, which is generally prohibited in Iran, even though minority Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians are allowed to drink alcoholic beverages in private, have skyrocketed since 20 February in the wake of the ravaging coronavirus. This has made Iranian officials fighting two wars, according to the ministry’s spokesman, the first being coronavirus and the other being alcohol poisoning.

According to him, about 5,011 people have been poisoned from alcohol since mid February, while about 90 people have lost their eyesight or are suffering eye damage as a result of the alcohol poisoning. He however added that the number of people suffering from eye damage or lost their eye sight could be much higher.

Mr Jahanpour disclosed that the death toll in Iran as a result of the coronavirus pandemic rose by 71 in the past 24 hours to 5,877, making the country the worst hit in the Middle East.

The Iranian government have however mandated companies manufacturing toxic methanol to add artificial colour to their products, so that the people would be able to differentiate between toxic methanol and ethanol, the kind of alcohol that can be used in cleaning wounds.

Methanol, which cannot be smelled in drinks, causes delayed organ and brain damage. Symptoms include chest pain, nausea, hyperventilation, blindness and even coma.

World Health Organization and other health agencies world-wide have been struggling to educate people on the need to avoid false rumors spread across the world on possible vaccines from things that are not certified by medical practitioners.

(www.newsnow.co.uk)