Since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, the internet - mainly social media and WhatsApp - has been awash with a tsunami of bizarre 'cures' and false information about the novel coronavirus. Including a hoax that it was artificially created to distract us from a planet-killing asteroid.
So much so, in fact, that fact-checking site Snopes has announced that they're scaling back their service in the face of "overwhelming" COVID misinformation, saying: "Exhausting our staff in this crisis is not the cure for what is ailing our industry."
Cures are one of the many types of fake news that are doing the rounds. One of the most prevalent is that breathing hot air from a hairdryer can cure COVID-19. Neither will drinking garlic water (though it might make you so stinky no one will go near you).
However, we stumbled upon one of the most ridiculous fake cures imaginable today, and it really highlights just how ridiculous some of these hoaxes and made-up-stories really are.
The 'egg spit' cure post reads (in dramatic capitals):
"PEOPLE CAN SELF VACCINATE THEMSELVES BY SPITTING IN AN EGG WHEN YOU ARE STARTING TO COOK IT YOU SPIT GERMS ON YOUR EGG THEN WHILE IT COOKS IT KILLS THE DEAD GERMS BECAUSE OF THE HEART AND THEN WHEN YOU EAT THE EGG YOU DEVELOP ANTIBODIES AGAINST THE VIRUS PLEASE SPREAD THIS KNOWLEDGE I SUGGEST YOU DO IT EVERYDAY EVEN WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW YOU HAVE IT IT'S BETTER TO BE PREPARED. GOD BLESS YOU ALL!"
The whole 'eat an egg every day' element makes us vaguely suspicious that it's been made up by an egg farmer, but there you go.
It's more important than ever to fact check these claims, as so many of them are flying around the internet at the moment.
If you get a message like this, take a second to Google the information before going onto share it. After all, we don't need any more weird (and gross) fake cures going viral - we already have an actual virus to deal with - and some of these so-called 'cures' could actually do more harm than good.
For the latest accurate and factual guidance on coronavirus from Health Protection Scotland (who do not mention eggs at all), click here.
For all of the latest updates on coronavirus in Edinburgh, visit our breaking news live blog here.
