Ijtihad Network Being Wise and Faithful Muslim in the Contemporary World
Johan Giske, a professor of infectious diseases at Sweden’s Karolinska Medical Institute, said that fasting through drying the throat reduces the risk of contracting the new Coronavirus.
According to the Shafaqna, quoting from the Arabic section of Radio Sweden (sverigesradio), while it has previously been claimed that dry throat and fasting could lead to more tendency to being infected by the new Coronavirus, the Swedish professor denied the allegations and said, “This claim is not true because it is the moisture that provides more tendency for catching the Coronavirus”.
Emphasizing that the risk of transmitting the virus is reduced during fasting, he added, “People who suffer from underlying diseases are at risk if they remain without water for long hours.”
Concerning the possibility of increase in the risk of affecting with the Coronavirus by fasting, and claims which state that avoiding drinking water for 15 to 20 hours would dry out the throat and mouth and prepare tendency for catching Coronavirus, he emphasized that there is no scientific evidence that such claims are true.
“I am almost certain that the opposite is true, because it is the moisture that provides the suitable hosting tendency for the virus’s mucous membranes, so I think the risk of infection will be reduced during fasting,” Johan Giske said.
Talking to Swedish Radio, Giske denied the hypothesis that frequent drinking of water at close intervals would prevent infecting with the Coronavirus and emphasized, “The body’s immune system is not affected by fasting, so the risk of increase in the possibility of being infected with the Coronavirus does not exist during fasting”.
It’s worth mentioning that Johan Giske is a member of the COVID-19 group at the Swedish Karolinska Medical Institute, which consists of eight faculty members whose mission is to track the development in Corona disease and to activate the institute’s knowledge to be shared with public.
