Trump Suggests Injecting People With Disinfectant To Kill Coronavirus
More unconventional and unproven COVID-19 treatments have been spruiked by Donald Trump, including putting "tremendous light" or an "injection" of disinfectant.
The U.S. President held a media briefing on Friday morning (AEST) from the White House, suggesting scientists should look into new treatments for coronavirus.
"I see the disinfectant that knocks it out in a minute, one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning?" Trump said, asking the health officials present at the press conference.
Trump has been criticised for his handling of the COVID-19 outbreak. The United States has more than 868,000 cases of coronavirus, more than four times the next highest number of reported cases of 213,000 in Spain. Nearly 50,000 are dead, double the number of Italy, the next highest with 25,000.
The briefing hosted officials who presented findings that the virus did not live as long in warm temperatures or in heat.
"So supposing we hit the body with a tremendous, whether it's ultraviolet or just a very powerful light, and I think you said that hasn't been checked because of the testing," Trump said, addressing the official who spoke about the virus' lowered potency in heat.
"Supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or some other way, and I think you said you're going to test that, too."
Trump then went on to seemingly speculate about other treatments, including "disinfectant". It was unclear what he meant by an "injection" in the body, or what sort of "disinfectant" he referred to.
"As you see, it gets in the lungs, it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it would be interesting to check that," he said of his "cleaning" idea.
The comments came after graphics were shown on television screens at the briefing, showing that disinfectant and light could be used to fight the virus. The graphics did not mention applying either of those directly to human bodies.
Later asked by a reporter to clarify his "injection" comments, Trump appeared to backtrack and responded "it wouldn't be through injection."
"We're talking about through almost a cleaning, sterilization of an area. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't work. But it certainly has a big effect if it's on a stationary object," he said.
Trump directly addressed Dr Deborah Birx, cooordinator of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, saying "I would like you to speak to the medical doctors to see if there's any way that you can apply light and heat to cure [coronavirus]".
"Have you ever heard of the heat and the light... relative to this virus?" he asked her.
After a pause, Birx replied "not as a treatment."
Many observers were confused by Trump's comments, with some pointing out Birx's reactions as Trump spoke.
When asked by a journalist whether it was appropriate to make such unfounded suggestions, Trump replied "I’m the president and you’re fake news."
It comes after Trump repeatedly raised the prospect of a proven malaria drug, hydroxychloroquine, as a COVID-19 treatment despite no evidence yet showing its efficacy in combating the virus.
At a Canberra press conference on Friday, Australia's chief medical officer Professor Brendan Murphy was asked about the President's suggestion.
"I would caution against the injection of disinfection. They could be quite toxic to people," Murphy responded.
He said he "wasn't privy to [Trump's] comments" and that he wanted "to be very careful about commenting on something that I didn't hear myself."
"And ultraviolet light, look, I don't know the context in which he said it, so I really would need to study it before I could comment," Murphy added.