As India suffered from a massive second wave of Coronavirus many WhatsApp forwards and social media posts claiming that the World Health Organization (WHO) has said the Coronavirus can spread through cabbages.
Multiple posts that claim The World Health Organization (WHO) has said Covid-19 can spread through cabbages have resurfaced on Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp forwards, despite the myth being busted by fact-checkers a year ago.
The post typically warns readers not to eat cabbage, citing a false WHO report, as the virus stays in cabbage for a very long time. The viral posts say that while the virus can last for at least 9-12 hours on other surfaces, the virus lasts more than 30 hours on cabbage.
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A WHO India representative had told news agency AFP that these are false claims and the United Nations body had not published the purported advisory.
The WHO website also makes no mention of cabbage as an item to be avoided for fear of contracting the virus.
Taking to Twitter, the Centre’s official Press Information Bureau (PIB) had last year shared the claims to be untrue, mentioning the WHO had issued no such report.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also stated on its website that there is at the time no proof to support the transmission of Covid-19 associated with food.
Social media has become a place where many such fake claims keep floating, Covid is also not an exception. Myths around the Covid disease have been forwarded to people spreading wrong perceptions about the virus.
The PIB’s fact-checking team has been busting numerous myths and remedies relating to Covid.
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The prevalence of misinformation and often impractical homemade remedies to treat the infection has been difficult to curtail.