Page 3 - Berita Sunway - Issue 69

TIPS
FIVE Myth: Sunlight kills

CORONAVIRUS coronavirus

Fact:
MYTHS • Sunlight contains three
types of ultraviolet light -
UVA, which tans your skin
and can cause eye damage;
YOU NEED TO STOP UVB, which burns and
also ages skin; and UVC,
which is “the most harmful
one” because it is used to
BELIEVING • A concentrated form of UVC is now on the front line in the fight
destroy genetic material.
against COVID-19. In China, whole buses are being disinfected by
the ghostly blue light each night.
• However, exposing yourself to the sun or to temperatures
Myth: Eating garlic, higher than 25ºc does not kill the virus.
onion, as well as
drinking hot water
help keep the
virus away Myth: I can contract coronavirus from
a package sent from China
Fact:
• Although garlic is a
popular flu remedy Fact: World Health Organization (WHO) stressed that there is no
in traditional Chinese risk of contamination by the novel coronavirus when receiving a
medicine and may have package from China.
some antimicrobial properties, there is no evidence that garlic
will protect people from the coronavirus.
• Drinking hot water to kill the virus can also be misleading.
Coronavirus can be killed in water at 56ºc or higher after 30
minutes, but it is impossible for the human body to lift its
temperature to 56ºc. Not only drinking hot water does not help,
it also hurts your oesophagus.

Myth: You can make your own
hand sanitiser with whiskey and vodka Myth: Some claim 5G can suppress
the immune system, thus making
Fact:
• Hand sanitiser that contains at people more susceptible to catching the
least 60% alcohol works as a virus
substitute to soap and water, Fact:
according to Centers for Disease • Viruses cannot travel via radio waves/
Control and Prevention. mobile networks. COVID-19 is spreading
• However, the alcohol available at in many countries that do not have 5G
our local stores has been diluted mobile networks.
with water for consumption, but • Dr Simon Clarke, associate professor in
that also means it is no longer cellular microbiology at the University of
strong enough to kill microbes or Reading told BBC News, “The 5G radio
function as a hand sanitiser. waves are tiny and they are nowhere
near strong enough to affect the
immune system.”

Always verify information before sharing them to your family and friends. False information can induce unnecessary panic. You may follow the Ministry of Health on
Facebook and Twitter for verified updates on the COVID-19 outbreak in Malaysia.
Information extracted from WHO, The Star, BBC News and China Daily.

BERITA SUNWAY | JUL—SEP 2020 | 3