At least 27 people have died in Iran from methanol poisoning after rumours that drinking alcohol can help cure the coronavirus infection, reported IRNA on Monday (March 9).

The outbreak of the coronavirus in Iran is one of the deadliest outside of China. According to IRNA, 22 people have died in Khuzestan, while seven lost their lives in the northern region of Alborz after drinking bootleg alcohol.

Notably, alcohol consumption is banned across Iran for everyone except some non-Muslim religious minorities.

Talking to IRNA, a spokesman for Jundishapur medical university in Khuzestan, said 218 people had been admitted to hospital after consuming bootleg liquor. The poisonings were caused by "rumours that drinking alcohol can be effective in treating coronavirus," Ali Ehsanpour added.

The deputy prosecutor of Alborz, Mohammad Aghayari, told IRNA the people who lost their lives had consumed methanol after being "misled by content online, thinking they were fighting coronavirus and curing it."

Methanol can cause blindness, liver damage and death if consumed in large quantities,

It is to be noted that coronavirus outbreak has spread in all 31 provinces of Iran, killing 237 people and infecting 7,161. IRNA reported that 16 people have died of coronavirus infection in Khuzestan so far.