BSF goes for COVID quackery; calls it innovative prevention technique [Watch]

The second wave of COVID-19 has hit India worse than before, putting the country through a challenging health crisis. Amidst all this, the country is fighting another battle against the horde of misinformation and fake news. Like last year, as COVID cases have spiked again, a new wave of COVID quackery has come to the fore. Now an unexpected victim has fallen to these unproven, non-scientific remedies - the Border Security Force.

A viral video shows Jharkhand BSF jawans sitting in line and taking steam through GI pipes. BSF claims steam inhalation helps keep COVID-19 at bay. The makeshift steam inhalation system with multiple GI pipes is connected to a pressure cooker. At the receiving end of these GI pipes, a plastic water bottle cut in half has been attached, to mimic an oxygen mask.

At the end of each output, BSF soldiers can be seen inhaling the steam. The system is designed in such a way that up to 8 jawans can inhale steam at the same time. Boasting of this setup, BSF claimed it is an "innovative technique of preventing the spread of COVID-19 infections."

"Innovations & improvisations are the forte of BSF. Though the COVID-19 Pandemic threw up new challenges to our bordermen, the force has always taken up the challenges with renewed vigor & resolve. Seen here are our troops at BSF Meru Camp, Hazaribagh, Jharkhand resorting to an innovative technique of preventing the spread of COVID-19 infections through steam inhalation. Steam from a pressure cooker channelised through GI pipes enabling up to 6 to 8 jawans inhale steam at a time, and is paying rich dividends," BSF's official statement read.

Watch the video below:

COVID quackery named innovation

International Business Times had debunked a similar setup in September last year, when a Pune man had been running a so-called "steam bar" with the promise of treating and preventing COVID-19. BSF's video is strikingly similar, but it is not known if there were any herbs or medicines in the pressure cooker to create the steam. Either way, it wouldn't have changed the fact about inhaling steam prevents or cures COVID-19.

There's no scientific evidence to support that inhaling steam can prevent or cure COVID-19. Steam inhalation is an effective way to clear nasal or respiratory passages when a person is suffering from cold or flu. But it does not cure any infection, even as basic as common cold. Steam inhalation also doesn't replicate the function of a ventilator or oxygen inhaling machine to increase body saturation.

If anyone claims to cure or prevent COVID-19 through steam inhalation, it is false and baseless.