Thousands of people in Iran were poisoned and hundreds have died after drinking bootleg alcohol in beliefs that it can protect them from catching COVID-19.

In a recent case of alcohol poisoning in the country, a five-year-old boy ended up blind after his parents made him drink industrial alcohol in an attempt to ward off the disease.

According to the state media, the people who passed away from alcohol poisoning “drank bootleg alcohol over rumors that it could be effective in treating coronavirus and were poisoned.”

Since alcohol in the country is banned for the majority, people have been resorting to illegally obtained liquor after hearing that alcohol may destroy coronavirus.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, some 300 people in Iran have died from alcohol poisoning while over 1,000 fell ill because of it according to the state media.

Meanwhile, health workers and government officials have been urging people to stop resorting to bootleg alcohol and warning them of potential consequences.

“The virus is spreading and people are just dying off, and I think they are even less aware of the fact that there are other dangers around,” clinical toxicologist Dr. Knut Erik Hovda, who works in Oslo, said.

“When they keep drinking this, there’s going to be more people poisoned.”

So far, Iran has confirmed over 41,000 cases of COVID-19 and more than 2,700 deaths.

Following the outbreak in the country, plenty of fake ‘home remedies’ have been appearing on social media and encouraging people to participate to protect themselves from the virus.

Meanwhile, both Iranians as well as international experts have expressed their fears about the real number of infected people in the country and suggested the government might be hiding the true extent of the outbreak.

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