Trump now suggests injecting disinfectants, bringing UV light 'inside the body' to kill coronavirus
Washington: President Donald Trump has suggested the possibility of studying injecting disinfectants into COVID-19 patients or bringing UV light "inside" their bodies to kill the deadly virus, drawing immediate flak from American health experts who urged people not to listen to such "dangerous" advice.
Launching a new scientific study conducted by his department, Homeland Security for Science and Technology Under Secretary Bill Bryan on Thursday said the coronavirus dies at a much more rapid pace when exposed to sunlight and humidity.
"The virus dies the quickest in direct sunlight. Isopropyl alcohol will kill the virus in 30 seconds," he told White House reporters in the presence of President Trump at his daily briefing on the COVID-19 situation in the country.
Bryan's remarks left Trump wondering if there was a possibility of injecting the chemical into a person infected with COVID-19 as a deterrent to the virus.
"I see the disinfectant that knocks it out in a minute, one minute...And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside, or almost a cleaning? Because you see it gets inside the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it would be interesting to check that," the US president told reporters at the press briefing.
Trump also raised the possibility of using light to combat the deadly viral infection.
"So, supposing we hit the body with a tremendous (force), whether it's ultraviolet or just very powerful light - and I think you said that hasn't been checked but you're going to test it. 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're going to test that, too. Sounds interesting," Trump said to Bryan.
Trump's incredulous remarks prompted sharp criticism from health experts who warned people against injecting or ingesting disinfectants, which are highly toxic.
"My concern is that people will die. People will think this is a good idea...This is not willy-nilly, off-the-cuff, maybe-this-will-work advice. This is dangerous," Craig Spencer, director of global health in emergency medicine at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, told The Washington Post.
US Food and Drug Administration commissioner Dr Stephen Hahn, who is also a member of the White House coronavirus task force, warned against ingesting any disinfectants to kill the coronavirus.
"I certainly wouldn't recommend the internal ingestion of a disinfectant," Hahn was quoted as saying by the CNN.
Dara Kass, associate professor of emergency medicine at Columbia University Medical Centre, also asked people to refrain from doing such things.
"Please don't drink bleach or isopropyl alcohol to remove #COVID19 from your saliva," she tweeted. "It's horrific," Kass told the Post.
People who consume such chemicals often die. Those who survive usually end up with feeding tubes, a result of their mouth and esophagus being eroded by the cleaning agents, she said.
Even as experts from the medical community came forward to challenge Trump's latest remarks, Deborah Birx, one of the top American public health experts, did not respond to the comments about the light therapy or disinfectant injections.
Her lips pressed in a tight line, Brix, who serves as the response coordinator for the White House's coronavirus task force, was silently listening to Trump's comments from the sidelines, the Post reported.
The US has reported over 869,170 COVID-19 cases and nearly 50,000 deaths.
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I don''t know what happened, says baffled Axar
New Delhi (PTI): Axar Patel didn't have much to answer when Delhi Capitals failed to defend 264 against Punjab Kings on Saturday and looked even more perplexed after his team crumbled to 75 versus Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their second straight IPL surrender within a space of 48 hours.
Delhi Capitals were reduced to 9 for 6 inside Powerplay overs with Bhuveneshwar Kumar getting appreciable swing and Josh Hazlewood executing short ball tactic to perfection.
The result was season's lowest score and RCB cantered to a nine-wicket win.
"Even I don't know what happened. That's why they say you have to be on your toes in cricket. We have to move on from this match," Axar said at post match presentation ceremony.
The single that David Miller refused in a one-run defeat against Gujarat Titans did affect the tournament momentum for DC and Karun Nair dropping dollies against Punjab Kings only made matters worse.
"From today's point of view, you can say it did effect, but you can look back, if the catches were taken (Nair) or had we taken the single against GT, then momentum would have been with us. The game is such that there is no room for ifs and buts. You have to be positive, you had a bad day and take the positives from the last 5-6 games," Axar added.
However the DC skipper refused the notion that there was exaggerated swing on offer which one felt after Bhuveneshwar Kumar's banana inswing cleaned up a clueless former India U-19 Sahil Parakh.
"I wasn't surprised, they are world class bowlers, they swing it every ground, but if our openers or top order had played them out then the result might have been different."
Hazlewood, who dismissed KL Rahul and Nitish Rana with short balls said that he wasn't sure what kind of track would be on offer after close to 530 runs were scored in the previous game.
"Probably turning up here after 500-plus runs in the last game, was not sure what was going to happen," Hazlewood said, adding that he followed pace bowling colleague Bhuvneshwar Kumar's advice.
"Was just following his (Bhuvneshwar) lead. There was a bit there in the first six overs - enough there to work with, and it was skidding on quickly from a short of a length. Once the ball got soft, it got more even," Hazlewood said.
He also spoke about how he set up Rana, who looked in a tangle and out of depth while facing a short ball.
"In general, you wanted the batter to hit it down the wicket and in the V. The short ball was nice as well, just about the accuracy. When that ball was nice and hard, it was tough to bat. Would have been nice to bowl four and get off the field," said Hazlewood.
His skipper Rajat Patidar was also surprised at how things panned out.
"Even I am surprised the way wicket played," RCB skipper said.
"All credit goes to the bowlers, Bhuvi and Hazlewood. They hit the right areas. The swing was normal but the good thing was we got early wickets and that kept us in the driving seat. The way Suyash bowled, stump to stump, it was really good to see," he concluded.
