Last Updated on October 21, 2021 by Team THIP
Quick Take
A video of a religious guru had been doing rounds on social media. In the video the person claims that alum water can kill Coronavirus and protect from Covid-19. We fact-checked and found that the claim is mostly false.
The Claim
The video shows the religious guru speaking at a gathering. He says, “take half a glass of water, add alum powder, drink it, Coronavirus can’t go to the places where alum water went”.
The video can be seen here, here, here, here and here.
Fact Checked
Can Coronavirus be killed by Alum?
There is not enough evidence. Some initial research shows positive effect of Alum on Covid patients, but further studies are required.
Alum or Phitkari is an Aluminium salt known for its antibacterial and antiviral properties. It is used in most households to treat minor cuts etc. especially during shaving.
A research done on a small sample of 109 COVID-19 patients, out of which 54 were given alum water. The scientists concluded, “It has been observed that aluminium salts have beneficial effects in COVID-19 infected cases. Considering the low systemic toxicity of intermittent oral intake of aluminium salts as food supplements and the fact that pandemic control is still not achieved, the use of aluminium salts is promising.”
However, ‘promising’ does not necessarily translate into ‘Yes’. Bigger researches are required to reach to a conclusive evidence.
Also, in the research aluminium salt was given to patients already effected with COVID and was undergoing regular treatments. There is no evidence of Alum acting as a preventive or being able to treat COVID standalone.
Is Alum an approved treatment by the authorities?
No. No medical body or scientific body has approved as treatment methodology with Alum.
There is no mention about the process in authority bodies’ website like World Health Organization (WHO) or the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
In India ICMR or the AYUSH ministry had also not suggested Alum as a component to add in the treatment. Rather PIB Fact Check has refuted the claim from their official Twitter handle.
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