india

Updated: Mar 07, 2020 09:42 IST

Days after a legislator in Assam claimed cow-dung could cure coronavirus, another in Uttarakhand has said that ancient Hindu rituals and cow urine can kill the virus in the “air and within the body”.

Sanjay Gupta, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator from Laksar area in Haridwar, made the comments on Friday while speaking to reporters in Gairsain of Chamoli district where the budget session is underway.

He was talking about the steps that should be taken to curb the spread of the deadly virus, which has killed thousands of people and infected more across the world.

“Performing yagna with ancient Vedic rituals of Hindu religion would help in killing the deadly coronavirus in the air,” he said

Gupta added sweeping floors with cow dung will also help contain the virus.

“Earlier people in the country used to sweep the floors of their homes with cow dung as it is a proven disinfectant. But now people have forgotten it. I am sure if they again start that, the virus will not enter their homes,” he said.

“Apart from this, people should also drink gaumutra (cow urine) to prevent the infection of deadly virus as products of Gau Mata have magical anti-virus properties.”

Gupta’s statement came on the day when the government informed the House on steps being taken to tackle a possible outbreak of the virus in the state.

Parliamentary affairs minister Madan Kaushik said over 17,387 people have been screened for coronavirus infection at various checkpoints along India-Nepal border in the state.

“So far, 437 people of Uttarakhand have come back from the affected countries who were kept under monitoring. Out of these 319 have completed their precautionary monitoring. No confirmed case of coronavirus infection has been found in Uttarakhand till date,” the minister said.

He said as a preventive measure 241 beds have been kept in the isolation wards of state hospitals.

Also read | India will be united in fight against coronavirus outbreak: PM Modi

Amid the scare of coronavirus across the country, Uttarakhand’s police department has stopped the biometric system of attendance as a precaution to control the possible spread of the virus.

“As we all know precaution is better than cure, we are trying to spread awareness and reduce in-person contact,” Pushpak Jyoti, inspector general police, said.

Dehradun’s district administration has said that police will take action against those found spreading rumours or panic regarding coronavirus.

In India, 31 people have tested positive for coronavirus and thousands are under watch.

China on Saturday reported 28 new deaths from the coronavirus outbreak, bringing the nationwide toll to 3070.

There were 99 fresh cases of infection, health officials said, with a rise in the new cases outside the virus epicentre of Hubei province for a third consecutive day.

The number of coronavirus cases worldwide surged past 100,000 on Friday, as a wave of countries reported their first cases.