People in India are smearing cow dung over their bodies to ward off COVID-19 as second wave crisis worsens

men covered in cow dung in India — People walk after applying cow dung on their bodies during "cow dung therapy at the Shree Swaminarayan Gurukul Vishwavidya Pratishthanam Gaushala on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, India, on May 9, 2021.
Amit Dave/Reuters

Doctors in India are warning against the practice of using cow dung to ward off COVID-19.
Some believers have been smearing cow dung on their bodies in the hope it will boost their immunity.
Hindus believe cow dung has therapeutic and antiseptic properties.
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Doctors in India have urged people not to smear their bodies with cow dung and urine, saying there is no scientific evidence for its effectiveness in warding off the coronavirus, Reuters reported.

As the second COVID-19 wave continues to ravage the country, some believers have been going to cow shelters once a week to cover their bodies in cow dung in the hopes it will boost their immunity, or help them recover from the virus.

Photos of one shelter in the western state of Gujarat show a group of men covering themselves from head to toe with a mixture of cow dung and urine.

While they wait for the dung to dry, the men hug or honor the cows at the shelter, and practice yoga to boost energy levels, Reuters reported. They then wash off the excrement with milk or buttermilk.

Cows are of special significance to Hindus, who see them as a sacred symbol of life and the earth.

They also believe their dung has therapeutic and antiseptic properties and have used it to clean their homes and for prayer rituals for centuries.

Gautam Manilal Borisa, who works at a pharmaceuticals company, told Reuters that cow dung helped him recover from COVID-19 last year.

"We see … even doctors come here. Their belief is that this therapy improves their immunity and they can go and tend to patients with no fear," he said, according to Reuters.

People bathe in cow milk to remove cow dung in INdia — People bathe in cow milk to remove cow dung from their bodies in Ahmedabad, India, on May 9, 2021.
Amit Dave/Reuters

But medical officials have warned against this practice, saying that it actually risks spreading other diseases.

"There is no concrete scientific evidence that cow dung or urine work to boost immunity against COVID-19, it is based entirely on belief," said Dr. J. A. Jayalal, national president at the Indian Medical Association, according to Sky News.

"There are also health risks involved in smearing or consuming these products - other diseases can spread from the animal to humans," he added.

In the last month, the coronavirus has wrought devastation in India as people are struggling to find hospital beds or oxygen, leaving many to die for lack of treatment.

The country has reported more than 24 million cases and more than 264,000 deaths so far, according to a tracker by Johns Hopkins University. Experts say actual numbers could be five to 10 times higher.

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