There is a message carrying several misconceptions going around on social media that drinking warm water, mixed with Robb ointment, kills Coronavirus (COVID-19). This is not true. We have analysed the message and busted the misconceptions.

The message shared on social media reads:

"Please, I beg you not to keep this to yourself, you can save lives. It's for Coronavirus. These are the symptoms of Coronavirus: 1. Dry throat 2. Dry cough 3. Itching throat 4. Sneezing uncontrollable and coughing. Please if you notice any of this in you don't hesitate to rush quickly and get hot water, mix with Robb and drink. Because the virus stays inside the human throat for at least 12 hours. If you don't act immediately as prescribed or recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO), that is when the virus will have the chance and opportunity to drive into your immune and body part, because at that time all your immune have gone weak, you can't stay more than 14 days on Earth."

Here is our analysis

Is drinking warm water mixed with Robb ointment helpful against COVID-19?

The Robb ointment is usually used for relief from the common cold, stuffy nose, headache and general body aches and pain. There is no evidence to suggest that drinking Robb ointment with warm water kills COVID-19. Instead, this can result in a serious health problem.

Robb ointment is not to be swallowed or place in the nostrils. Most Robb ointments contain Menthol, Camphor and Methyl Salicylate. If ingested in excess, all of these ingredients can lead to poisoning with significant impact on our health [1][2][3]. When swallowed, Robb ointment can be dangerous to your health, and some of its constituents may result in death if taken in excess [4].

Based on the fabricated message, it would assume that when a person starts having the symptoms, he may have just been infected. Is this true?

Based on published findings at the Annals of Internal Medicine [5], on average, symptoms of COVID-19 develop just over five days. The findings further show that about 97.5% of people infected will develop symptoms within 11.5 days from the time when they were first infected. This shows that by the time a person starts showing the symptoms and is confirmed to have the disease, it means he would have lived for many days with the virus.