Samajwadi party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday ridiculed the practice of people smearing cow dung and urine over their bodies, hoping to attain immunity against the coronavirus that has been raging across the country in a deadly second wave.
Sharing a video report by a news agency on Twitter, Yadav wrote, "'Should we laugh or cry."
Doctors have voiced concern after reports of 'cow dung therapy' emerged from Gujarat where a cow shelter, named Shree Swaminarayan Gurukul Vishwavidya Prathisthanam, is hosting as many as 15 persons on Sundays for the so called therapy. The bovine waste is later washed off with milk, an official at the shelter said.
Experts say there was no evidence to say cow dung can offer protection to humans against the virus. In fact, they say such attempts could lead to many other infections, some of which can be fatal.
Some of the visitors at the cow shelter include even doctors and frontline workers.
As of Wednesday, India had over 37 lakh active cases of the coronavirus.