These are difficult times and everyone is looking to keep their family safe and sound.

But in this state of desperation, it is important not to blindly follow “cures” that offer you the faintest glimmer of hope.

There are many dodgy remedies being touted as cures for Covid-19, so do be on the lookout for the following claims:

1. Sipping water regularly prevents infection

At first, this drivel seems to have a veneer of legitimacy to it.

Supposed, advice from “Japanese doctors” claim that drinking water every 15 minutes washes virus particles from your throat into your stomach.

There, your stomach acids will kill the coronavirus.

While it is important to stay hydrated and it is true that the virus enters the body through your mouth and nose, it is not something you can just wash away with water.

There is also no record of any doctor making this fantastical claim, so it’s safe to say that it’s purely gibberish.

2. Gargling with salt water or vinegar will wash away the virus

While gargling with saline is indeed a remedy for sore throats, it certainly does not eliminate Covid-19 as some claim.

One message that is circulating in social media circle reads, “Before it reaches the lungs Coronavirus remains in the throat for four days and at this time the person begins to cough and have throat pains.”

“If he drinks a lot of water and gargles with warm water & salt or vinegar, it eliminates the virus. Spread this information because you may save someone with this information.”

This is really nothing more than unscientific babble.

The World Health Organisation has stated, “There is no evidence that regularly rinsing your nose with saline protects you from infection with the new coronavirus.”

3. Eating bananas protects you from Covid-19

A video is circulating on Facebook that claims eating bananas prevents you from being infected with Covid-19.

The video has been manipulated to seem legitimate, with clips inserted from actual news programmes interspersed with claims about the bananas.

It gives the impression that the University of Queensland is touting bananas as a miracle fruit.

4. Breathing hot air will kill the virus

A YouTube video is making the rounds with a particularly outlandish “cure” for Covid-19.

A so-called “Futurologist” named Dan Lee Dimke suggests that breathing in hot air from a hairdryer or a sauna will kill the virus.

The man claims to have a “PhD” to his name, but checks reveal that he is not a medical doctor; his doctoral degree is in education.

His claims are unfounded as viruses do not simply gather in one’s nose and they certainly aren’t vulnerable to just hot air.

5. Garlic water is a traditional Chinese medicine

Claims of people being cured of Covid-19 overnight by drinking boiled garlic water are absolutely unfounded.

A message claims that an “old Chinese doctor” has been effectively treating patients by making them drink water boiled with garlic.

While garlic does indeed possess microbial properties, it is not a miracle food that will cure people with Covid-19.

6. Lemon-infused water is a Covid-19 cure

While lemon water can boost your immune system, it does not kill Coronavirus as claimed.

These posts are supposedly written by a doctor named Jiao Shenme Mingzi, a name that literally means, “What is your name?”

Another claim attributed to an Israeli doctor, suggests that adding baking soda to lemon water will “alkalise the immune system”.

This is pure nonsense as your body has a pH level close to neutral, and drinking an alkaline solution does nothing against a virus.

7. Drinking bleach kills the Coronavirus

Some ruthless conspiracy theorists are touting a “Master Mineral Solution” as a Covid-19 cure.

This supposedly miracle medicine has been promoted as a cure for autism, cancer, HIV/AIDS and now, Covid-19.

The main component of this substance is chlorine dioxide, a compound similar to laundry bleach.

Drinking bleach causes severe vomiting, liver failure, stomach and esophagus burns and possibly, death.

Ironically, this might be the only cure in this list that works. After all, you can’t get infected with Covid-19 if you are already dead.