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FILE — In this March 3, 2020 file photo, people have their temperature checked as they enter the Palladium Shopping Center, in northern Tehran, Iran. Local media reported Thursday March 26, 2020, that nearly 300 people have been killed and more than 1,000 sickened by ingesting toxic methanol across the Islamic Republic out of the false belief it kills the new coronavirus. The virus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)

FILE — In this March 3, 2020 file photo, people have their temperature checked as they enter the Palladium Shopping Center, in northern Tehran, Iran. Local media reported Thursday March 26, 2020, that nearly 300 people have been killed and more than 1,000 sickened by ingesting toxic methanol across the Islamic Republic out of the false belief it kills the new coronavirus. The virus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults a…

March 27, 2020

Stories this photo appears in:

In Iran, false belief a poison fights virus kills hundreds
March 27, 2020 3:27 a.m.

In Iran, false belief a poison fights virus kills hundreds

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Standing over the still body of an intubated 5-year-old boy wearing nothing but a plastic diaper, an Iranian health care worker in a hazmat suit and mask begged the public for just one thing: Stop drinking industrial alcohol over fears about the new coronavirus.