FACT-CHECK: Red onions do not cure COVID-19

Claim: Red onions can be used to cure COVID-19

Source: WhatsApp video

Verdict: FALSE

Researched by Gifty Tracy Aminu

A 3 minutes and 19 seconds long video being shared on WhatsApp shows a woman claiming to have used red onions to cure herself of COVID-19.

The woman who identified herself as a Cameroonian is seen demonstrating how to use the red onion treatment and further recommends the remedy to the public. “I have seen that the rate at which Coronavirus has taken over Cameroon, it is just getting alarming.” She said.

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Describing the remedy as magic, she claims to have recovered from COVID-19 after strapping thinly sliced red onions to her chest for three days.

“I had corona in me and this is what I did. I couldn’t breathe … it was just so alarming… then I just thought of this red onion remedy that I saw on social media and I tried it and it worked like magic for three days”.

Fact-Check

In response to the claim, the World Health Organization (WHO) told GhanaFact that onions cannot be used for the treatment of any kind of ailment.

“Onions cannot cure COVID-19, cancer, malaria or any other medical ailment at all. Although, eating them may have some antioxidant value that could improve the immune system”.

The best way to defend against COVID-19 is sticking to proven prevention measures like regularly washing your hands with soap, wearing a mask, and keeping safe social distances, and of course, getting a COVID-19 vaccine when your turn comes, the WHO said.

In the early days of Ghana’s COVID-19 outbreak, GhanaFact verified a similar claim which suggested that chewing raw onion can cure Coronavirus.

“Grind onions into a paste and give it to a coronavirus victim to ingest and I promise the patient will recover. If the patient can also chew raw onions, they should do that, and I assure you of your recovery.” The author of the claim partly said.

However, a Communications Adviser at the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa, Collins Boakye-Agyemang said: “it is not true.”

Verdict

The claim that red onions can be used to cure COVID-19 is FALSE.