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No, lemon and baking soda mix doesn’t cure Covid-19

A message circulating on WhatsApp in Nigeria claims that “lemon and bicarbonate” can cure Covid-19. It says the “information comes from Israel” where “this virus did not cause any death”. 

The message says to mix lemon and bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) as a “hot tea” to drink every afternoon. “The action of the lemon with hotter baking soda immediately kills the virus, completely eliminates it from the body.” 

It claims the “remedy” is “why the People of Israel is relaxed about this virus”. 

Israel currently has more than 4,800 cases of Covid-19, with 18 deaths.

Similar claims of the lemon and bicarbonate of soda “cure” for coronavirus are doing the rounds on Facebook.

Is there any truth here?

No medicine to prevent or treat coronavirus

“There is no scientific evidence to the claim,” Andrei Muchnik, spokesperson for the World Health Organization, told Africa Check.

Tanimola Akande, professor of public health at the University of Ilorin in western Nigeria, also said the claim was false: “There is no documented scientific backing to this claim.”

Africa Check could also find no mention of bicarbonate of soda, baking soda or lemon juice in the WHO’s latest peer-reviewed scientific findings database on Covid-19. 

The WHO is clear: “There is no specific medicine recommended to prevent or treat the new coronavirus”. – Motunrayo Joel


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