As COVID-19 infected more and more people across the world, so did the myths. One of them was that those who consume a vegan diet have immunity to the virus.

However, debunking the myth, Harvard Professor and Epidemiologist K Srinath Reddy said in June last year that there was no proof whether following a vegan diet makes one immune to contracting COVID-19. “Even vegetarians have been affected because this is a virus which travels through droplet infection and enters the body,” Reddy, the President of the Public Health Foundation of India said in a PTI report. 

Also read: Exposure risk same at 6 or 60 feet: MIT study challenges distancing norms

Reddy, who has formerly headed the department of Cardiology at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), said that people who are taking a lot of fruits and vegetables as a part of their natural diet have better innate immunity and they may be able to fight the infection caused by coronavirus much better.

The prominent health expert further said that it is better for vegetarians as well as non-vegetarians to eat a lot of fruit and vegetables to the extent people can boost up their innate immunity, which will provide a better defence against the virus. 

He also explained how covering just the mouth and nose is not enough to stop the virus from entering our bodies, and it is equally important to cover the eyes or have full facial protection as the virus mainly enters through the face which means the nose, mouth or eyes. 

Also read: COVID-19 is not unbeatable. How 62-year-old tamed 95% lung infection

“We don’t usually talk about eyes. When the droplets drop on the face, it can also enter (the body) through the eye because eyes are also connected to the nose. The virus can enter the eyes and then also go to the nose,” Reddy, who is also an Adjunct Professor of the Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University and Honorary Professor of Medicine at the University of Sydney, said in the PTI report.

Reddy, who has been involved in several major international and national research studies, suggested that people should get used to taking extra precautions saying, “If you are wearing spectacles, it is fine, otherwise, what people are suggesting now is face sheets (plastic sheets) covering the entire face so that nothing falls on the eyes also,” reported PTI.

He further suggested taking precautions and a good diet and try to keep away from polluted or smoky areas, which reduces the resistance in the lungs.