A KANSAS man drank a cleaning product in the wake of Donald Trump’s comments about a “disinfectant jab” to cure the coronavirus.
Health officials in the state say there has been a 40 per cent spike in “chemical cases” after the President discussed whether disinfectant could be injected into the body to kill Covid-19,
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The comments were made at Thursday’s White House press briefing though Trump later insisted he was being “sarcastic”.
Reckitt Benckiser, which makes Dettol and numerous other household cleaning products, released a statement reiterating that its products are harmful if consumed by humans.
Lee Norman, the Kansas state health officer, said the head of the Kansas Poison Control Center reported a more than 40 percent increase in cleaning chemical cases.
“Including a fellow over the weekend who drank a product because of the advice he’d received,” Norman told a news conference Monday, Kansas.com reports.
“We’re doing what we can to counter-message against that kind of remedy.”
Dr Norman didn’t, however, directly identify where the man had received the advice.
The increase in chemical cases in Kansas comes after hundreds of people have called a virus hotline in Maryland asking whether they should drink cleaning products following the President’s comments
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan told ABC’s This Week that his health department’s emergency number has been hit with calls asking whether ingesting bleach can kill the coronavirus.
He said: “We had hundreds of calls come into our emergency hotline at our health department asking if it was right to ingest Clorox or alcohol cleaning products, whether that was going to help them fight the virus.”
The President was asked about reports from states which have seen “a spike in people using disinfectant after your comments last week” and if he took any responsibility.
“No, I don’t. No, I can’t imagine. I can’t imagine that,” he replied.
During the press briefing on Thursday, Trump wondered aloud whether disinfectants could be injected or ingested to fight off the coronavirus.
“Supposing we hit the body with a tremendous, whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light?” he asked a Homeland Security official.
“And then I said supposing you brought the light inside the body which you can do either through the skin or in some other way.”
Meanwhile Howard Stern has been slammed after suggesting President Trump and his supporters should drink disinfectant and “drop dead”.
The 66-year-old radio personality made the controversial comments on his show for Sirius XM, with one listener asking him to drop the politics.
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