Iranian child loses sight, slips into coma after drinking liquor to protect against coronavirus

A child in Iran slipped into a coma after drinking alcohol. Amid the coronavirus scare, rumours have been circulating online about potential cures against the virus, alcohol being one of them.

The child also lost his eye-sight in the process. Media reports indicated that the child was given booze by his family. Videos of the incident have been making rounds across social media.

Also read: More than one billion people self-isolating globally to limit the spread of coronavirus

With the coronavirus death toll increasing everyday across the globe, many people have slipped into panic mode. 

In the recent weeks, over 200 people have died in Iran after drinking alcohol. Most people procured the alcohol from bootleggers who dilute the alcohol and mix additives in it, which can have life-threatening reactions.

In the video, a medical professional standing by the child’s bed can be heard claiming that the family had given the alcohol to him as a protective measure against coronavirus. Additionally, the doctor said that the child can no longer see and is in a coma.

“I beg of you, do not give alcohol to your children. It is very dangerous,” he added.

Due to the ban on alcohol in Iran, people are forced to make their alcohol or to buy it from bootleggers through illegal channels, which makes it very dangerous to consume. The ban was enforced in Iran starting 1979 but people prefer to resort to making alcohol at home. However, the homemade variants of alcohol have an extremely lethal concentration of methanol.

Others drink industrial alcohol that comes in fruit flavours and is easily available across supermarkets. However, industrial alcohol is used as an alternative fuel soerce and as a pesticide, with high concentrations of methanol.

Alcohol poisoning is capable of causing permanent blindness, brain damage, and heart attacks if left out of check.

Also read: Iran rejects Trump's virus aid offer as toll jumps to 1,685

The COVID-19 pandemic has killed over 1,556 people in Iran, and has infected more than 20,000 people.

As of Saturday, 1,812 in Iran have died from coronavirus, and there are 23,049 confirmed cases. Over 127 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.

As of now, based on the Johns Hopkins University tracker, at least 341,000 people have been infected with COVID-19. Around 14,700 have died.

Starting today, more than 750 million people in India have been placed under lockdown until March 31. Restrictions are travel, work, and movement based.

The US recently reported 400 deaths owing to the virus.

Also read: Russia to use mobile phones to track people at risk of coronavirus

(With inputs from agencies)