A hotel owner in Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, claims that eating small onions can help prevent coronavirus. This is a false claim; eating small or big or onion in any form is not a cure for coronavirus.

Like many other health advisories and preventive measures that came up after the outbreak of the coronavirus, onions were also being put into the list of things that can prevent one from the virus.

A news report came out on February 2, 2020, saying that a restaurant owner in Tamil Nadu has started serving the customers small onion to prevent coronavirus. Different news agencies like Patrika, OneIndiaHindi reported the news under headlines like #coronavirus: यह प्याज खाइए- कोरोना वायरस को दूर भगाइए, तमिलनाडु के एक होटल मालिक का दावा (eat this onion, keep coronavirus at bay- claim of a Tamil Nadu restaurant owner).

The restaurant owner claims that eating small onions will prevent the infection of the virus.

A video of the same report was uploaded by Times of India on YouTube with the caption Tamil Nadu: Restaurant sells ‘small onion Uttapam’ to prevent coronavirus. The video shows this restaurant and workers cutting onions to prepare the meals. A board is also shown that is kept outside, which reads “To prevent coronavirus eat small onion Uttapam” (Uttapam is a popular south Indian dish).

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The claim also migrated to TikTok where people are making videos referring to the same news and captioned ‘Coronavirus solution.’

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The advisory is misleading. There has been no medical proof or scientific finding regarding the use of onions in keeping one safe from coronavirus. According to the WHO, there is no vaccine and no specific antiviral medicine to prevent or treat COVID-2019 yet. The most effective ways to protect yourself and others against COVID-19 are to frequently clean your hands and maintain personal hygiene and social distancing.

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