Saline solutions can kill the new coronavirus.
Shortly after China confirmed human-to-human transmission in the outbreak of the\xa0new SARS-like virus, multiple posts appeared on social media purporting to share "professional advice" from\xa0Chinese respiratory expert Zhong Nanshan., The posts, for example\xa0here on Facebook on January 22, 2020, have a\xa0traditional Chinese\xa0caption saying: “Zhong Nanshan’s brilliant idea on preventing infection"., Zhong Nanshan is a scientist at the National Health Commission who helped expose the scale of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak that killed hundreds of people in both mainland China and Hong Kong in the early 2000s. Here is an AFP report on this issue., The posts\xa0purport to quote Zhong Nanshan as saying: "I suggest everyone rinse his/her throat with diluted saline water before going to hospitals or other public areas, and rinse again upon returning home., “Here’s the method: Swish a mouthful of diluted saline water in your mouth -- tilt your head back and let the salt water come into contact with your throat -- slightly open your mouth, breath slowly through your throat, and make a ‘ha’ sound.\xa0At this moment, the saline water will slowly move with your breath, spit it out after a few seconds. Repeat the above steps with a second mouthful of saline water, then repeat the whole procedure 3-5 times., “Since virus or bacteria lurks in the pharynx after first entering through the nasal cavity, diluted saline water can kill the bacteria right away so as to prevent infection., “During the period of SARS, I promoted the same method among students, supervising and encouraging them to follow. As a result, none of the students in our class was infected.", The posts claim that the information is a: "Suggestion from Academician Zhong Nanshan. January 21, 2020”, Below is a screenshot of the misleading post:, The same claim was repeated in scores of\xa0posts, for example here, here and here on Facebook, here on Twitter, and also here and here on Weibo., Similar claims linking the same prevention method to other people or hospitals were posted here, here and here on Facebook, and on Weibo here and here., For example, the exact same instructions on how to use diluted saline to prevent infection was shared in this Facebook post, citing the Wuhan Union Hospital\xa0rather than Zhong Nanshan as the source of the information., The caption starts with: “This is sent by Wuhan Union Hospital”; and ends with: “This method is simple, effective and easy. The key is to be consistent.”, All of the claims are false., The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University,\xa0where Zhong’s medical team is based, said\xa0the claim was medically inaccurate., This\xa0January 22, 2020\xa0Weibo post by the The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University contains an image of the misleading claim, which has been partly covered by two red simplified Chinese characters that read “rumour refutation”., The post’s simplified Chinese caption translates to English as:\xa0“#RumorsRefutation Recently, a rumour circulating online claims: ‘Academician Zhong Nanshan suggests rinsing your mouth with saline water in order to prevent infection’., "Academician Zhong’s team at our hospital hereby officially refutes the rumour: Saline helps clean the mouth and throat, and is helpful for curing pharyngitis. However, the new coronavirus invades the respiratory tract, which cannot be cleaned by mouth rinsing., "Secondly, no present findings have suggested that saline water can kill the new coronavirus. Please don\t believe or spread the rumour. Thank you.\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b”, "Below is a screenshot of the hospitals post:", The World Health Organization also told AFP there was no evidence to suggest rinsing with saline solution is effective in preventing infection., In an email to AFP dated January 24, 2020, the WHO said: "We have seen no convincing evidence that rinsing one\s mouth with diluted saline water will provide protection from this disease., "While our understanding of the disease is still evolving, the best advice we can give people right now is to do things like wash their hands frequently, practice good respiratory hygiene (e.g. to cough or sneeze into a tissue or their elbow), avoid contact with sick people, and cook food thoroughly. This will help protect people from this new coronavirus but also a range of other diseases.", , Copyright © AFP 2017-2020.  All rights reserved.  Users can access and consult this website and use the share features available for personal, private, and non-commercial purposes.  Any other use, in particular any reproduction, communication to the public or distribution of the content of this website, in whole or in part, for any other purpose and/or by any other means, without a specific licence agreement signed with AFP, is strictly prohibited.  The subject matter depicted or included via links within the Fact Checking content is provided to the extent necessary for correct understanding of the verification of the information concerned.  AFP has not obtained any rights from the authors or copyright owners of this third party content and shall incur no liability in this regard.  AFP and its logo are registered trademarks.
Saline solution kills China coronavirus? Experts refute online rumour | AFP Fact Check