Since the outbreak of coronavirus in Ghana, many myths have been developed by people on how to not only win the fight against the pandemic but to protect one's self from contracting the disease.

From the illusion that ‘Africa is too hot or humid for the virus to operate', to 'Black people are immune to coronavirus’ to 'Young people cannot die from Covid-19, only elderly people’; the number of assumptions and fallacies keep increasing.

In Ghana, the introduction of the use of hand sanitiser which must contain about 70% alcohol for the prevention of the virus has led to a new belief that alcohol is the new 'cure' against the virus.

As part of JoyNews' campaign on combating fake news and myths, some residents of Chorkor were engaged on what they are doing to keep themselves safe in the midst of the outbreak.

While many said they understood the various preventive measures outlined by the Ministry of Health, the intake of alcohol is the surest way to stay immune.

They tell JoyNews, a local drink popular known as 'akpeteshie' is the reason no one has recorded the virus in the community. The residents say they do not only drink the alcohol but also use it to sanitise their hand in place of the sanitiser.

They alleged that, taking the drink boost their immune system which in turn makes it difficult for the virus to attack their respiratory organs.

But Professor Albert Yawson of the University of Ghana Medical School has debunked the claims.

According to him, local alcohol does not cure coronavirus.

“The point here is that the amount of alcohol that you need in the sanitizer is about 60 to 70 percent; that’s quite a lot of alcohol and usually the alcohol we drink does not have such concentration.

"And therefore using it to wash your hands will not be as effective as the sanitizer so we don’t encourage that because the alcohol content in the akpeteshie is less. It will not be able to kill the virus and does not kill the virus when you drink it.”