These include steaming, a miracle oil , baby shampoo and medicine meant for domestic animals.
However, none of these so-called remedies provides a cure for Covid-19, health authorities say.
As South Africans await the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines, a number of alternative methods are being punted as either curing the disease or, at the very least, preventing it from taking hold.
On Monday, President Cyril Ramaphosa, in a televised address, said South Africa is on track to secure 20 million doses of vaccine against Covid-19, but no timeline has yet been provided. Understandably we all want to know when the vaccines will be arriving. Everybody asks that question, and they want the vaccines to arrive yesterday. As we work to secure the supply of sufficient doses in the midst of huge global demand, we are doing and will continue to do everything that s possible to ensure that the process is both transparent, and it s handled most effectively and efficiently, and that informat
They warn that following the party s advice lead to harmful health consequences.
Measures like physical distancing, handwashing and mask-wearing are more effective, they advise.
An African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) post on Twitter recently claimed that a drop of Johnson & Johnson s No More Tears baby shampoo in a warm saline nasal rinse will help to break down the fatty exterior of SARS-CoV-2 - the virus that causes Covid-19.
The political party was responding to a tweet from journalist Oliver Meth.
Experts, however, warn that the claims are not based on any evidence.
A dangerous claim
Health24 spoke to two experts about the recommendation: Professor Francois Venter, the deputy executive director at the Wits Reproductive Health Institute and a lecturer at Wits Department of Medicine, and Professor Eric Decloedt from Stellenbosch University s Division of Clinical Pharmacology.
First published by GroundUp
“We call on the Department of Health to act urgently, transparently and decisively now to obtain vaccines and to implement vaccination, so as to reduce death and illness, and bring the pandemic under control.” So reads a letter started by Professor Heather Zar, a leading public sector paediatrician at Cape Town’s Red Cross Children’s Hospital.
Over 2,500 people had signed the petition by the time of publication of this article. Many are well-known doctors, nurses and researchers, including Professor Francois Venter, former head of the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society, Professor Ntobeko Ntusi, Head of the Department of Medicine at Groote Schuur Hospital, Professor Lucille Blumberg of the National Institute of Communicable Diseases and Professor Helen McShane of Oxford University.
22 December 2020 - Scientists Collective
What are the urgent steps that South Africans need to take to prepare for a timeous life-saving roll out of vaccines?
Some of the members of the Scientists Collective are acknowledged as world leaders in the vaccine field, and are in a position to consider and provide answers to the difficult questions about meeting one of the greatest challenges South Africa has ever faced, the mass vaccination of the population.
Over the next few months, we expect to have further information on the safety and effectiveness of a range of other Covid-19 vaccines.
We can’t do full justice to all the intricacies of vaccines and how they work, but in this Advisory we will link you to trustworthy and relevant information (see our article on misinformation here), together with safe links to trusted sites.