1 / 7ore than 50 children aged between 10 and 12 years were made to drink salapa — local country liquor in a village in Odisha’s Malkangiri district to prevent them from the novel coronavirus.2 / 7Locals from Parsanpali village believe that the consumption of liquor will prevent the children from contracting COVID-19 as it has alcohol in it.3 / 7A video of the incident has gone viral and has drawn sharp criticism.4 / 7It is worth mentioning that medical experts have already said that drinking alcohol does not help fight the infection caused by the novel coronavirus.5 / 7The viral video also showed that no one was following Covid-19 guidelines like wearing masks and maintaining social distancing.6 / 7Dr Arijit Mohapatra, a renowned paediatrician, told India Today that it is absurd to believe consumption of alcohol prevents or cures Covid-19.7 / 7“Consuming alcohol is no way going to cure corona, as it does not go through your GI tract, it goes through the eye, nose and mouth of one. If you take something infected with corona it enters your body through the respiratory tract and not through GI Tract,” Mohapatra said. The doctor reiterated that consuming alcohol will not cure or protect anyone with coronavirus.