Coronavirus: UAE warns against chlorine dioxide products claiming to fight COVID-19

Health officials in the United Arab Emirates warned people against products that wrongly claim to fight COVID-19, such as a recent example that a product that releases chlorine dioxide gas can eliminate coronavirus.

“Dr. (Omar) al-Hammadi warned people against using products that are being wrongly promoted for their ability to combat COVID-19 without any scientific basis. He gave as an example a product that releases chlorine dioxide gas, which is wrongly claimed to be able to eliminate the virus before it enters the human body,” WAM reported the official spokesman for the UAE Government as saying on Tuesday during a press briefing.

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A pharmacist holds a medicine containing chlorine dioxide at the Farmacia Boliviana, amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Cochabamba, Bolivia. (Reuters)

Back in April, the US Food and Drug Administration issued a warning letter to a seller that marketed fraudulent and dangerous chlorine dioxide products known as “Miracle Mineral Solution,” saying at the time that they were not aware of any scientific evidence supporting their safety or effectiveness.

“These products do not provide protection from the coronavirus, adding that the claim chlorine dioxide gas can kill the virus is not based on any reliable scientific evidence. Chlorine dioxide can cause lung, kidney, and heart problems,” al-Hammadi said during the press briefing.

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Al-Hammadi said that the presence of the word ‘safe’ on a product “does not mean that it is effective in treating certain diseases.”

“It only means that the product is not harmful to the human body. It may not be beneficial to a person’s health unless a reliable scientific body states it is valid for treating certain diseases with certain doses, for a certain period of time and under specific conditions with close control,” the government official said.

The United Arab Emirates warned on Tuesday of the “alarming” rise in coronavirus cases in the country, after health officials confirmed 365 new coronavirus cases, and two new fatalities, over the past 24 hours.

The UAE now has a total 64,906 COVID-19 cases, the official WAM news agency reported, with the number of patients currently receiving treatment for the virus at 6,631.

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