Coronavirus: Trump claims ‘dangerous’ suggestions to kill the virus were sarcastic
During a White House press briefing yesterday, Donald Trump suggested that disinfectants like bleach or rubbing alcohol could be injected into the body to kill the coronavirus.
His comments brought swift backlash from health professionals who warned against this potentially deadly suggestion.
The US president has now claimed his comments were misconstrued and he was actually being sarcastic.
“I was asking the question sarcastically to reporters like you, just to see what would happen,” Trump said.
“Now disinfectant maybe on the hands would work. I was asking a question of the gentleman who was there yesterday, Bill, because when they say that something will last three or four hours or six hours but if the sun is out or they use disinfectant it goes away in less than a minute. What I was asking was a very sarcastic question to the reporters in the room.”
On Thursday, President Trump suggested patients could be blasted with UV light or injected with disinfectant to help rid themselves of COVID-19 in claims that have been widely dismissed as dangerous and outlandish.
Trump made these suggestions during a White House press briefing after William Bryan, acting undersecretary for science and technology at the Department of Homeland Security, gave a presentation on new research into how long the virus can survive when exposed to different elements or chemicals.
He said that initial tests show that UV light and chemicals such as bleach and rubbing alcohol can quickly eradicate the virus.
“Our most striking observation to date is the powerful effect that solar light appears to have on killing the virus both surfaces and in the air,” Bryan said.
“Bleach will kill the virus in five minutes. Isopropyl alcohol will kill the virus in 30 seconds. You rub it and it goes away faster.”
Trump suggested that they test whether these treatments could be used on or in the human body to get rid of the virus.
“We hit the body with a tremendous … whether it is ultra violet or just very powerful light. I think you said that hasn’t been checked but you are going to test it?” he asked Bryan.
“And then I said supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way. And I think you said you are going to test that too?”
Bryan responded to the President by telling him they would “get the right folks who could” do the testing.
“And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute, and is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning?” Trump continued
“Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it would be interesting to check that.
“It sounds interesting so we will see. But the whole concept of the light and the way it kills it in one minute, that’s pretty powerful.”
Trumps suggestions have been lashed by health professionals, with pulmonologist and global health policy expert Dr Vin Gupta slamming his comments as “dangerous”.
“This notion of injecting or ingesting any type of cleansing product into the body is irresponsible and it’s dangerous,” Dr Gupta told NBC News.
“Any amount of bleach or isopropyl alcohol or any kind of common household cleaner is inappropriate for ingestion even in small amounts. Small amounts are deadly.”
https://www.news.com.au/world/coronavirus/health/coronavirus-trumps-weird-suggestions-to-get-rid-of-the-virus/news-story/5c22dcca5950df9748e594d0254facac
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