More than 300 people have reportedly died in Iran with a further 1,000 getting sick after consuming methanol thinking it will protect them against the coronavirus disease.

Due to reports on the effectiveness of hand sanitizer in combating coronavirus, social media posts across Iran have been awash recently with theories that industrial alcohol such as methanol could cure and prevent coronavirus.

According to Fox News, after some social media posts claimed that a British school teacher and others cured themselves of the coronavirus with whisky and honey, bootleggers started packaging industrial alcohol to Iranians, with the misconception that it prevents coronavirus, since the consumption of alcohol is banned in the Islamic country.

“Other countries have only one problem, which is the new coronavirus pandemic,”said Dr. Hossein Hassanian, an adviser to Iran’s Health Ministry

“We have to both cure the people with the alcohol poisoning and also fight the coronavirus.”

“Unfortunately in some provinces, including Khuzestan and Fars, deaths from drinking methanol has exceeded the number of deaths by the new coronavirus,” Hassanian said.

Iran has reported over 29,000 confirmed cases and more than 2,200 deaths from the virus,but the World Health Organization and some International experts, fear Iran may be under-reporting its cases.