Children served liquor to 'prevent' COVID-19, video goes viral

Photo used for representational purposes

In an outrageous incident, about a dozen children, aged between 10-12 years, were made to drink liquor brewed from a tree in a village in Malkangiri district of Odisha to prevent them from contracting COVID-19. A video of the incident has gone viral on social media.

According to a report in Hindustan Times, Villagers in Malkangiri said the children were served the fermented sap of the Salapa tree at a marriage function two weeks ago.

The video also showed that no one was wearing a mask or maintaining social distance. A person who attended the wedding was quoted as saying that children were served fermented sap after some village elders advised that it would keep Coronavirus at bay.

"The issue has been taken up with the village elders. Serving liquor to children in the name of tradition or Covid is not advisable. The excise department has also started an investigation into the incident," district child protection officer Narayan Das was quoted as saying in the report.

Last week, a Congress councillor in Karnataka has come up with a novel recipe to tackle the virus - rum and half-fried eggs, sunny side up. His recommendation to beat coronavirus through a video had gone viral.

In the viral video, Ravichandra Gatti, a councillor in Ullal town near Mangaluru, said, "Add a teaspoonful of ground pepper in 90ml rum and stir it well with your finger and drink it. Eat two half-fried omelettes to ensure that the coronavirus vanishes."

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