President Donald Trump has made a statement saying his comments around heat, light and disinfectant as potential cures for COVID-19 were sarcastic.
Trump had previously asked medical experts to look into the use of heat, light and disinfectants due to their potential ability to destroy the virus in under one minute, and regarding disinfectant he said:
“And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning. Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that.”
However, today he said he was actually “…asking a question sarcastically to reporters like you just to see what would happen.”
“I was asking a question sarcastically to reporters like you just to see what would happen.”
President Trump says he was being sarcastic – after asking his medical experts to look into the use of heat, light and disinfectants in curing Covid-19. pic.twitter.com/dcBNpqAj6k
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) April 24, 2020
Reporters like CNN’s Daniel Dale & Jim Acosta have been quick to compare Trump’s original statements with his clarification.
Asked about his comments about injecting disinfectant, Trump says, “I was asking a question sarcastically to reporters like you, just to see what would happen.” That’s just a lie. Here’s the transcript. pic.twitter.com/uLx0KnPTZ6
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) April 24, 2020
Trump said he was being “sarcastic.” But this statement from the press secretary earlier today does not mention sarcasm. https://t.co/baE5LN6VDz
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) April 24, 2020
Concerningly, there are warnings from emergency services against injecting disinfectant, as Americans have been calling regarding the alleged treatment.
ALERT🚨: We have received several calls regarding questions about disinfectant use and #COVID19.
This is a reminder that under no circumstances should any disinfectant product be administered into the body through injection, ingestion or any other route.
— Maryland Department of Emergency Management (MDEM) (@MDMEMA) April 24, 2020
At the time of publication, the coronavirus death toll in the USA had passed 50,000.
