A forward has been appearing on WhatsApp and Facebook claiming you can self-check for COVID-19 infection and drinking water and keeping garlic in your mouth can offer coronavirus protection. 

Of course, all this information is completely false. No evidence has been found to confirm any of these claims. Let’s fact-check each claim one by one and see why these claims are wrong. In the end, I’ll also tell you why I think these forwards are so compelling. 

The full message as I received it

Corona Virus may soon not go by geographic boundaries. 

Useful for all of us to stay safe:

The new NCP coronavirus may not show sign of infection for many days, how can one know if he/she is infected. By the time they have fever and/or cough and goes to the hospital, the lungs are usually filled with 50 % Fibrosis and it's too late!

Taiwan experts provide a simple self-check that we can do every morning:

Take a deep breath and hold your breath for more than 10 seconds. If you complete it successfully without coughing, without discomfort, stuffiness or tightness etc it proves there is no fibrosis in the lungs, basically indicating no infection.

In critical times, please self-check every morning in an environment with clean air!

SERIOUS EXCELLENT ADVICE by Japanese doctors treating COVID-19 cases.  Everyone should ensure your mouth & throat is moist, never DRY. Take a few sips of water every 15 mins at least. WHY?  Even if the virus gets into your mouth...drinking water or other liquids will WASH them down through your oesophagus and into the stomach. Once there in tummy...your stomach ACID will kill all the virus. If you don't drink enough water more regularly...the virus can enter your windpipes and into the LUNGS. That's very dangerous. 

Please put a clove of raw garlic in your mouth and let it remain in your mouth till it dissolves completely...do this morning and evening...this is the best preventative for all types of pathogenic attacks. You will not catch any type of infection if you follow this practice daily

Pls send and share with family, friends and everyone about this ! Take care everyone n may the world recover from corona virus soon. May all be well n happy..

Let’s fact-check each claim

Claim 1

The new NCP coronavirus may not show sign of infection for many days, how can one know if he/she is infected. 

TRUE

According to the WHO, COVID-19 has an incubation period (the period where you have the infection but haven’t felt the symptoms) of 1-14 days. Most commonly, it’s around 5 days. 

Claim 2

By the time they have fever and/or cough and goes to the hospital, the lungs are usually filled with 50 % Fibrosis and it's too late!

FALSE

This is a bit ridiculous. I presume what this message means is that your lungs have 50% fibrosis. Fibrosis is when the tissue becomes stiff due to scarring or injury. In the lungs (pulmonary fibrosis), this means there is a reduced ability to transport oxygen into the blood in areas that are fibrotic. This also means the lung capacity is reduced. COVID-19 does cause some pulmonary fibrosis in patients but it’s still uncertain to what extent the fibrosis occurs. We also don’t know how long it’ll remain or if it’ll heal over time. It’s not a symptom of having COVID-19, it’s a result of the disease running its course. Just because you are infected, it doesn’t mean your lungs have fibrosis.

Claim 3

Taiwan experts provide a simple self-check that we can do every morning:

Take a deep breath and hold your breath for more than 10 seconds. If you complete it successfully without coughing, without discomfort, stuffiness or tightness etc it proves there is no fibrosis in the lungs, basically indicating no infection.

In critical times, please self-check every morning in an environment with clean air!

FALSE

Different versions of this message attribute this self-check to Stanford University and Stanford Hospital Board. Stanford University has made an official statement that this has not originated from them. As to finding out which “Taiwan experts” this message is referring to, it’s anyone’s guess.

Since pulmonary fibrosis is not a symptom of having the disease, doing this self-check is meaningless. If you do it and cough or feel a tightness in your chest, it could be due to many other reasons than the novel coronavirus. You could have allergies; chronic lung conditions like asthma or chronic bronchitis or emphysema; or may have some other infection. Pulmonary fibrosis can also be caused by different issues and could take a long time to show symptoms. There’s no evidence that suggests that pulmonary fibrosis is a symptom of COVID-19. It isn’t even listed in the CDC Clinical Guidance page. And diagnosing the condition is far more complex. Plus, if you do this test and it causes discomfort or coughing, it might make you think you have the infection when you don’t! That’s not what we want. If you’re feeling unwell, just go to the doctor and let him or her diagnose you.

Claim 4

SERIOUS EXCELLENT ADVICE by Japanese doctors treating COVID-19 cases.  Everyone should ensure your mouth & throat is moist, never DRY. Take a few sips of water every 15 mins at least. WHY?  Even if the virus gets into your mouth...drinking water or other liquids will WASH them down through your oesophagus and into the stomach. Once there in tummy...your stomach ACID will kill all the virus. If you don't drink enough water more regularly...the virus can enter your windpipes and into the LUNGS. That's very dangerous. 

FALSE

First, this message doesn’t tell us which Japanese doctors are making these claims and I couldn’t find any doctors who have. Mentioning Japanese doctors, much like the forward about Japan getting rid of its microwave ovens, seems to make people think the information is more credible because we all admire the Japanese for the technical prowess and scientific rigour. As amazing as Japan is, just adding a reference to the country or its people doesn’t make claims automatically more credible.

Second, can drinking water wash away the coronavirus? Nope. Though staying hydrated does help with overall immune function, there’s no evidence to suggest that it washes viruses down the throat and into the stomach. Viruses can infect cells very quickly and effectively and can’t just be washed away with water. The tissues COVID-19 infects – the lower respiratory system deep in the lungs – are already very moist but can’t stop the infection.

Speaking to the Associated Press, Dr. William Schaffner, infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University, said:

“We always caution anyone healthy and people who are sick to keep up fluid intake and keep mucus membranes moist. It makes you feel better, there is no clear indication that it directly protects you against complications.”

As reported by Snopes:

Dr. Susan Wootton, an infectious disease expert at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, agreed with that assessment, telling KHOU that no data exist to support the claim that sipping water will prevent infection by transporting it to the stomach.

Snopes has written an article regarding a similar message that’s making its rounds on social media. Go check it out.

Claim 5

Please put a clove of raw garlic in your mouth and let it remain in your mouth till it dissolves completely...do this morning and evening...this is the best preventative for all types of pathogenic attacks. You will not catch any type of infection if you follow this practice daily

FALSE

Garlic has been found to have some antibacterial properties but the findings are still in very early stages. Till now, there is some tentative science that says it may be useful for toothaches to some extent thanks to its antibacterial properties. But there isn’t any evidence that shows it to be antiviral, so don’t use it as protection from this coronavirus. It also has side-effects for some people like acidity or bloating, so be careful about that. Of course, with the bad breath, the garlic will give you, everyone will definitely keep their distance, which, I guess, is one way of not getting infected. 

So what should you do to protect yourself from COVID-19? 

The information is available on the WHO website in far more detail so please visit them and go through their information.

Wash your hands frequently

Wash your hands thoroughly for at least 20 seconds with soap and water, making sure you’ve cleaned every crease in your palms and fingers, under your nails, between your fingers and the back of your hands. Do this regularly throughout the day. Keep an alcohol-based hand sanitizer around if you don’t think you’ll have access to soap and water. Follow the same procedure with the sanitizer. 

Maintain social distancing

Keep at least a metre, or 3 feet of distance between yourself and someone who is coughing, sneezing or is seemingly unwell. The droplets they may expel when coughing or sneezing could infect you with the disease. 

Avoid touching your face

If your hands have come in contact with the virus, touching your eyes, nose or mouth will give it easy access into your body.

Practice respiratory hygiene

If you cough or sneeze, make sure you do it into a tissue or the inside of your bent elbow. Dispose of the tissue immediately. This will make sure your droplets don’t go far and infect others. 

If you’re sick, stay home and see a doctor

This seems to be so hard for some people to follow. If you’re sick, don’t go to work, don’t go out. Just stay at home and call your doctor. Why would you want to make everyone else sick, even if it’s not the coronavirus? 

Stay informed and follow the advice given by your doctor and the medical administration in your country 

(unless it’s the Ministry of AYUSH, in which case, ignore everything they say)

Your doctor, government and the leading medical establishments in your country would have the latest information on the status of COVID-19. Stay informed and follow their instructions. 

Conclusion

Outbreaks like COVID-19 make us feel scared and helpless. We are always looking for more ways to protect ourselves from the disease. So, when something as simple as drinking water and chewing garlic comes around, we want to believe it. Unfortunately, these often don’t work. However, there are things we can do that do work, and they aren’t that hard to follow. Yes, they’re not foolproof either, but we should practice them as much as possible to prevent the spread of this coronavirus or any other outbreak that comes our way.

Please don’t believe any advice you see on social media or anywhere else online that promotes anything other than what internationally recognised medical and news establishments are saying. 

For reasons I’ve mentioned in other posts, even your closest family, dearest friends or colleagues are not to be relied upon. I’m also not asking you to take my word for it, which is why I’ve linked all my sources throughout this article for you to investigate for yourself. 

If you have received the same message from someone, please share this article with them so that they are better informed. The COVID-19 outbreak is serious and we need to do everything we can to stop the spread of the infection and the misinformation surrounding it. 

References & Further Reading

• Snopes article on this forward: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/taiwan-experts-self-check/

• WHO-China Joint Mission on Coronavirus 2019: Final Report: https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/who-china-joint-mission-on-covid-19-final-report.pdf

• How Taiwan is fighting the Coronavirus: https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/3/10/21171722/taiwan-coronavirus-china-social-distancing-quarantine