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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Rupee falls 4 paise to 90.24 against US dollar in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee opened weak and declined 4 paise to 90.24 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday, as geopolitical uncertainties triggered by the US intervention in Venezuela fuelled the demand for the American currency.
According to forex traders, the rupee is expected to trade lower due to geopolitical development, even though a lower crude prices could provide some cushion.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 90.21 against the US dollar and lost further to trade at 90.24 against the greenback in early deals.
On Friday, the rupee settled lower by 22 paise at 90.20 against the US dollar.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.36 per cent higher at 98.50.
The US on Saturday carried out a military operation in Venezuela an deposed President Nicolas Maduro. President Donald Trump said the US would "run" the South American country and tap its vast oil reserves to sell to other nations.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.07 per cent lower at USD 60.70 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index Sensex declined 135.81 points to 85,626.20 in early trade, while the Nifty was down 25.75 points to 26,302.80.
Foreign institutional investors turned net buyers, picking up equities worth Rs 289.80 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.
The latest RBI data released on Friday showed India's forex reserves jumped by USD 3.293 billion to USD 696.61 billion in the week to December 26. The overall kitty had increased by USD 4.368 billion to USD 693.318 billion in the previous reporting week.
