Leading disinfectants' producer Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB) released a warning Friday after the President of the United States, Donald Trump suggested the possibility of bringing UV lights inside the body, or studying injecting disinfectants into COVID-19 patients.
The makers of Lyson, Dettol and Harpic, as leading experts in health and hygiene, were compelled to put out a warning after the President's statements. They clarified that "under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body (through injection, ingestion or any other route)."
William Bryan, who leads the Science and Technology Directorate at the Department of Homeland Security said, "researchers are testing the effect of disinfectants on virus-laden saliva and respiratory fluids in the laboratory" and that they kill the virus very quickly. He also added that the virus is dies at a more rapid pace when exposed to sunlight and humidity.
“And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning," Trump said following Bryan's briefing to the press on the COVID-19 situation. "Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that. So, that, you’re going to have to use medical doctors with. But it sounds -- it sounds interesting to me.”
These statements prompted Trump to make the above statements which sparked fury among experts in the medical community.
RB responding to questions as to whether internal administration of disinfectants was appropriate for investigation or as a treatment for the virus, strictly warned consumers to not do so under any circumstance.
The confirmed number of COVID-19 deaths in the United States crossed a harrowing 50,000 on Friday, according to John Hopkins University tally collated from government figures.
The virus has killed more than 190,000 people worldwide. Reports say that the true numbers are far higher, and new cases are surging in Africa and Latin America as the spread of the virus has subsided in some countries which were affected earlier.