It was on March 23, 2020 that Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a stringent nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus. A year on from the first lockdown, India has the second-highest virus caseload country in the world, after the United States, recording over 11.7 million infections and more than 160,000 deaths. And despite the arrival of various vaccines across the world, and two in India, the coronavirus pandemic continues to dominate people’s lives in 2021. 

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The pandemic was the dominating event of 2020, affecting all walks of
life in every corner of the planet since its outbreak in Wuhan, China in
December 2019. The deadly virus has infected over 124 million people worldwide, claiming
over 2.73 million lives, ravaging economies and ushering in a ‘new normal’ way
of life.

And with
the growing threat of the virus came bizarre suggestions from leaders across the
world for a potential cure. From injecting disinfectant, exposure to UV light, drinking
cow urine to practicing yoga, here is a look at some of the most bizarre
remedies suggested by political leaders:

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Injecting disinfectant, exposure to UV light

US President
Donald Trump came under fire from the medical community after suggesting research
into whether injecting disinfectant in the body might treat the infection. He
also suggested to expose patients to UV light, according to BBC.

“So,
supposing we hit the body with a tremendous, whether it’s ultraviolet or just
very powerful light,” Trump said at a White House coronavirus task force briefing
in April, adding, “supposing you brought the light inside of the body, which
you can do either through the skin or in some other way. And I think you said
you’re going to test that too. Sounds interesting.”

“And then I
see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is
there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a
cleaning,” Trump said.

Drinking vodka

This gem
was proposed by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in April, when he dismissed
the pandemic as a “psychosis” and ignored the need for imposing lockdowns in the
country, saying drinking vodka, driving tractors and going to saunas will cure
the infection, according to a report in Reuters.

“No one
will die of coronavirus in our country. I publicly declare this. We have
already found combinations of drugs to save people,” Lukashenko said.

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Prayers

In June,
Tanzanian President John Magufuli declared the country “coronavirus-free”, crediting
the victory to prayers by the citizens. “The corona disease has been eliminated
thanks to God,” BBC quoted Magufuli saying at a church in the capital city of
Dodoma.

He earlier
asserted that the pandemic was exaggerated while urging people to attend
ceremonies in churches and mosques, maintaining that prayers “can vanquish” the
virus.

Cow urine

Suman
Haripriya, a BJP legislator from Assam, suggested in March that cow urine and
cow dung can be used to cure the COVID-19 infection, PTI reported.

Speaking at
a discussion on the smuggling of cattle to Bangladesh during the budget session
of the state assembly, Haripriya said, “We all know that cow dung is very
helpful. Likewise, when cow urine is sprayed, it purifies an area. I believe
something similar could be done with ‘’gaumutra’ (cow urine) and ‘gobar’ (cow
dung) to cure coronavirus (disease).”

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Yoga

In March, Uttar
Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that practicing yoga can help deal
with many diseases, including COVID-19.

“With the help of yoga, diseases like blood
pressure, heart attack, kidney failure, liver failure, and even coronavirus can
be dealt with,” he said while inaugurating the week-long International Yoga
festival in Rishikesh.

Poverty

Miguel Barbosa, the governor of the Mexican state of Puebla, claimed in
March that the coronavirus only affected the rich and that the poor are immune
to the infection. According to a report in The Guardian, Barbosa was commenting
on reports that a significant portion of the country’s coronavirus cases was
made up of wealthy people who travelled abroad.

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“Most of them are wealthy people. If you are rich you are at risk. If
you are poor you are not. The poor, we’re immune,” he said.