A video has surfaced on social media platforms showing a woman making a claim that she recovered from COVID-19 only by taking steam of ginger and neem leaves infused water.
A Twitter user shared the video with a caption, “A Home remedy used for the treatment of corona by a home quarantined girl from Jabalpur. DRINK KADHA TAKE STEEM MAKES YOUR LIFE HEALTHY.”
In the video, the woman can be heard saying, “I was suffering from COVID and couldn’t breathe or even speak. I boiled neem leaves and ginger in the water and took steam from it. Then I drank a kadha made from neem leaves and ginger. Doing this for only time gave me relief.”
On checking further, we found several Facebook users sharing a longer version of the same video.
Similar posts carrying the same video can be found here, here, and here.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the above posts and found the claim made in them to be false.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine mentioned that ginger does not prevent or cure Covid-19.
The World Health Organisation stated in the ‘Fact or Fiction’ section of its website that there is no evidence that ginger has protected people from Covid-19.
Although neem extracts have been known for their anti-bacterial and other effects, we did not find any information about neem leaves being helpful in curing or preventing COVID-19 infection.
In 2020, Malaysia’s Ministry of Health also clarified that there was no scientific evidence to support the claim that neem leaves can cure or prevent coronavirus. An official infographic released by the ministry states the claims are “myths”.
Moreover, NewsMobile reached out to the World Health Organisation who clarified to us that WHO does not have any evidence that neem leaves can cure COVID-19 infection.
Therefore, the claim that COVID-19 infection can be cured by steam inhalation of water boiled with neem and ginger is misleading.
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