Authorities say 46 people have been infected with the Rona virus after spraying salt on the mouths of churchgoers at a Christian church in South Korea.
\Authorities at a church in Gyeonggi Province said on March 16 that they had sprayed saline into the mouths of visitors to the church, believing that it would help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Officials say 46 people who went to church were infected with the virus after using a single spray can without disinfecting the nozzle head.
Video footage from the River of Grace Community Church in Gyeonggi, south of Seoul, shows a church official holding a spray can and spraying salt on the crowd one by one.
The spraying took place during a prayer service attended by about 100 churchgoers in recent days. According to the investigation, the pastor and his wife were among those infected.
“According to one patient infected with the virus, they were able to confirm that they had sprayed the spray nozzle into their mouth. They did the same thing to others. The spray was not disinfected, ”said Lee Hee-young, head of the Coronavirus Task Force in Gyeonggi.
“It simply came to our notice then that the virus had spread. “They did this because of a misconception that salt water could kill a virus.”
The church has since been closed and all those attending have been tested for the virus.
Authorities in South Korea are currently working to slow the spread of the coronavirus, but the government is still on high alert to detect new outbreaks in urban areas.
A total of at least 8,236 people have been infected in the country since the discovery of 74 new viruses on March 16.
Ref. Mizzima
