Do not inject yourself with disinfectant: Dutch health officials respond to Trump

With reporting by Jamie de Geir.

Dutch public health agency RIVM strongly advised against following the latest advice from United States President Donald Trump on treating the coronavirus, who suggested that blasts of ultraviolet light and injections of disinfectant could potentially treat the virus and respiratory illness Covid-19. It would be an especially bad idea to eat, drink, or inject yourself with disinfectant, the health agency warned.

"And then I see the disinfectant where it 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? Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number in the lungs," Trump said during his daily press conference on the pandemic.

"No, people should not put disinfectant in their bodies," a spokesperson for the RIVM told NL Times. "Better yet, it is very dangerous."

He also remarked about ultraviolet light after American scientists discovered that sunlight and heat can potentially weaken the coronavirus. "Supposing we hit the body with a tremendous, uh, whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful, light," he theorized to the gathered reporters.  He then turned to his advisors and continued, "And then I said ‘Supposing you brought the light inside the body,’ which you can do either through the skin or in some other way. And I think you said you’re going to test that, too. Sounds interesting."

About the ultraviolet lighting, the spokesperson for the RIVM said that scientists are testing certain UV lights against the virus, and that certain types of UV light can kill bacteria. "But it is definitely not recommended that people try it themselves," he stressed.