Lemon and Hwangdo Sold Out, Even Methanol... 'Infodemic' Scarier Than the Pandemic

"○○ is good for immunity"
Fake COVID-19 news rampant worldwide

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] Recently, absurd fake news related to COVID-19 has been spreading in China. One example is the false information that "peach canned fruit, vinegar, and lemons are effective in treating COVID-19." Various fake news stories that have persisted since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to run rampant.

According to foreign media such as Hongseong Newspaper, notices of lemon shortages have been appearing one after another on Chinese online commerce platforms. Offline stores are also experiencing scarcity, and in places where lemons are still available, prices have already more than doubled.

Chinese Epidemic Prevention Authorities' "Drink water rich in electrolytes" sparks lemon craze

The lemon buying frenzy in China began after epidemic prevention authorities recommended drinking "water containing a lot of electrolytes" as a COVID-19 treatment method. Subsequently, posts spread on Chinese social networking services (SNS) claiming that "mixing lemon, salt, and sugar in water creates water rich in electrolytes."

Moreover, Ning Guang, director of Ruijin Hospital affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, advised acquaintances to "cut fresh lemons and mix them in water to drink if asymptomatic COVID-19 infected or nasal congestion occurs," which further increased the number of people trying to obtain lemons. Previously in China, canned yellow peaches and vinegar also caused shortages due to rumors that they were "effective in treating COVID-19."

However, Chinese health experts advised, "The recently popular methods are folk beliefs whose medical efficacy has not been verified," and recommended, "You should take fever reducers and other medicines that help treat COVID-19."

Methanol and garlic as COVID-19 treatments? ... Fake news rampant since early COVID-19 days

This is not the first time fake news related to COVID-19 has appeared. In the early days of the COVID-19 crisis, accidents resulting in deaths due to fake news also occurred.

In 2020, in Iran, false information that "strong alcohol kills viruses inside the body" spread, leading thousands of citizens to drink disinfectant alcohol. Since alcohol consumption is prohibited in the Islamic country of Iran, citizens apparently diluted methanol, which was easily accessible, and drank it. At that time, the Iranian Ministry of Health announced that over about two months after the COVID-19 outbreak, 5,011 people were poisoned by drinking methanol, and 525 of them died.

In the same year, in Hong Kong, a patient who believed the false information that "garlic is a special remedy for COVID-19" was hospitalized after eating 1.5 kg of raw garlic.

In South Korea, rumors also spread that "saltwater is effective in preventing COVID-19." As a result, at a church in Gyeonggi Province, saltwater was sprayed into the mouths of worshippers using a sprayer, leading to a cluster infection.

In front of a pharmacy in Beijing, China, citizens are lined up while a man is examining the medicine he purchased.
[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

Fake news spreading like an epidemic... 'Infodemic'

This phenomenon is called an "infodemic." The term "infodemic" is a combination of information and epidemic, referring to the rapid spread of baseless false information and fake news like an epidemic.

Most epidemics are accompanied by infodemics. In 14th-century Europe, when the Black Death was rampant, false information that "pagans were the cause of the Black Death" spread, leading to witch hunts.

Especially with the development of information and communication technology, the impact of infodemics has become even stronger. Even false information can rapidly spread through social networking services (SNS).

Accordingly, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned about the dangers of infodemics. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus pointed out, "Just as COVID-19 spreads worldwide, rumors, lies, and false information are also spreading," adding, "These are equally dangerous." He further stated, "False information also affects trust in science, institutions, and healthcare systems."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.