No Evidence Cow Urine Cures COVID-19

Misbar discovered that according to npr.org, India has reported its highest daily COVID-19 death toll, 4,187 people. In all, nearly 240,000 people in India are confirmed to have died from COVID-19, with reported infections topping 21 million. These numbers have caused some in India to suggest a variety of unproven treatments, including drinking cow urine, to slow the infections. 

Surendra Singh from Bairia in the Ballia district of Uttar Pradesh has urged people to drink cow urine to contain coronavirus spread. Others are also reporting that cow dung and urine can help in curing coronavirus. According to Suman Haripriya, a BJP MLA from Assam, “Cow urine and dung are known to have medicinal values and cancer cures using them are being discovered. An ayurvedic hospital in Gujarat makes cancer patients live with the cows in the same room, a cow dung pack is also applied on their bodies and panchamrit using cow urine is given to them. I have got proof myself of a cancer patient getting cured. I think using cow dung and urine to make the coronavirus cure would prove beneficial," said Haripriya.

Drinking cow urine, also known as cow urine therapy, is not new. According to the International Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, cow urine is a traditional medicine in India and is believed to have therapeutic value and used in many drug formulations. It is used as

disinfectant and for purification. Cow urine is not a toxic waste material. Approximately 95% of it is water, 2.5% consists of urea, and the remaining 2.5% is a mixture of minerals, salts, hormones and enzymes.

Even though drinking cow urine has been a medicinal and religious tradition for ages in some parts of the world, there is no scientific evidence to support drinking cow urine as a treatment for COVID-19.