Is It True That Drinking Or Inhaling Eucalyptus Oil Prevents COVID-19 From Being Cured?

Eucalyptus Oil / VOI

JAKARTA - There is an opinion in the community that eucalyptus oil can ward off COVID-19 as well as cure patients who were previously confirmed positive.

The use of this assumption can be in various ways, ranging from dropping eucalyptus oil into water and then drinking it, to dropping it on a tissue and then sticking it to the nose to be inhaled.

But, is it true that eucalyptus oil is effective in preventing and curing the corona virus?

Director General of Disease Prevention and Control of the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) Achmad Yurianto said there was no scientific statement that proved that eucalyptus oil was effective in warding off and treating COVID-19.

"There is no scientific supporting data that eucalyptus mint can cure COVID-19," Yuri said when confirmed by VOI , Thursday, September 24.

However, Yuri did not prohibit the use of eucalyptus oil for patients with COVID-19 who were undergoing treatment to recover.

"It is not prohibited to use it for COVID-19 patients. My answer can be summed up like that," said a former government spokesman for the handling of COVID-19.

Because, according to Yuri, the smell of eucalyptus oil that enters the nose can cause a sense of comfort for its users.

"If it is used so that the aroma of eucalyptus oil makes wearing masks comfortable, it is partly true, so that we feel at home wearing it," Yuri explained.

Still related to that, a few months ago, the public was also shocked by the manufacture of anti-COVID-19 necklaces by the Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) which claimed to have killed 80 percent of the corona virus.

The main material of this necklace is made of eucalyptus. Eucalyptus is a kind of tree whose leaves and oil can be made medicinally, one type is eucalyptus oil.

In fact, according to epidemiologist from Australia's Griffith University Dicky Budiman, eucalyptus or eucalyptus does contain antiviral properties but not for COVID-19.

So, he thinks that the necklace made by Balitbangtan can ward off COVID-19 is still vague and needs further investigation.

"Indeed, eucalyptus or eucalyptus leaves have antiviral properties. But what has been confirmed in the research is an antiviral that is not for COVID-19," said Dicky.