The Internet is now over flooded with news, articles and studies related to the novel Coronavirus that has already claimed the lives of 252,442 people globally. While health experts and scientists are still understanding the nature of this deadly virus and are trying to develop medicines or vaccine against it, many common people are also busy finding out various ideas to kill the virus.
So far, from including garlic, ginger, papaya salad in daily diet to inhaling steam, netizens have been suggesting multiple homemade remedies to cure the virus, and most of them have been proved to be unscientific or misleading.
Is Coronavirus a Pepper Deficient Syndrome?
Now, the latest claim suggests that COVID-19 is seen as a 'Pepper Deficiency Syndrome' and including hot pepper to one's diet will simply kill the virus in an infected person.
The message is widely popular among the people in Nigeria after a spiritual activist Omotade-Sparks Amos Sewanu, who is the founder of iBSmartify, apparently received revelations on 25 February 2020, while interceding on the issue of Coronavirus. He has even issued a press release claiming that the black man's nature is already anti-coronavirus especially those who have been consuming meals or soups rich in pepper.
According to the spiritual activist, the easiest cure for the virus is a nice meal or soup rich in pepper, like pepper soup or Yoruba stew, which is popular among Africans. However, he has also requested people not to take dry pepper or excess pepper. Following this suggestion, many netizens have started consuming pepper rich meal or soup believing that the virus will be 'killed' in less than 24 hours.
Similarly, another message is also being shared by many netizens.
Hoax busted
Like many food items that are good to improve the immunity in human beings, pepper has been shown to have antioxidant, detoxification and antimicrobial properties. However, there is no scientific evidence to prove that it can cure the novel Coronavirus.
Even the World Health Organisation (WHO) has come forward clarifying the intake of pepper as a 'medicine' to kill Coronavirus as a hoax message.
"Hot peppers in your food, though very tasty, cannot prevent or cure COVID-19. The best way to protect yourself against the new coronavirus is to keep at least 1 metre away from others and to wash your hands frequently and thoroughly. It is also beneficial for your general health to maintain a balanced diet, stay well hydrated, exercise regularly and sleep well," reads the post on the WHO website.
Coronavirus in Nigeria
As of now, there are 2,292 active Coronavirus cases in Nigeria while 93 have been reported to have died due to the virus outbreak.
