A rumour circulating in Iran that alcohol can treat coronavirus has so far led to 44 deaths after being poisoned by bootleg alcohol, the state-run IRNA news agency said Tuesday.

At least 44 people in Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan and Alborz provinces died overnight from alcohol poisoning, according to the state news agency IRNA.

With the outbreak of Covid-19 in Iran, a rumour spread through Iran that drinking alcohol will kill the virus.

“Some of the citizens of Ahwaz had heard that drinking alcohol could help them fight coronavirus, so they used it as a preventive measure,” Ali Ehsanpour, spokesman of Ahwaz University of Medical Sciences told the Mehr News Agency.

Since alcohol is banned in Iran, people have been poisoned by drinking industrial alcohol sold in the market for sanitizing purposes. People turned to ingest industrial-grade alcohol after believing in rumours and in an effort to save themselves from coronavirus.

Over 210 people are hospitalised with many in a critical state after ingesting poisoned alcohol.

Iran is the third country with the highest number of infections. On March 10^th, 881 new cases have been reported which put the country’s total infections at 8,042 with 291 deaths and a record 54 deaths on March 10^th, alone.

The outbreak of the virus in the Islamic republic is one of the deadliest outsides of China, where the disease originated.

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