Alongside household staples like hand sanitizer, maize, rice, and diapers, residents of Nairobi will be receiving small bottles of Hennessy cognac in their government-issued coronavirus care packages, CNN reports. Mike Sonko, the governor of the Kenyan capital, justified the distribution of Hennessy by calling it a "throat sanitizer" and falsely claiming it is "believed that alcohol plays a major role in killing the coronavirus."
Experts, though, say drinking alcohol can actually make your immune system weaker, and leave you more vulnerable to contracting COVID-19. "Please completely ignore clowning of a major global pandemic taking lives & putting extreme pressure on households," tweeted Githinji Gitahi, the CEO of Amref Health Africa. "Dump [the Hennessy] the way you would dump your used #COVID19 #mask — never to be recovered!"
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Honda and Nissan in merger talksSpeed Read The companies are currently Japan's second and third-biggest automakers, respectively
-
Taylor Swift wraps up record-shattering Eras tourSpeed Read The pop star finally ended her long-running tour in Vancouver, Canada
-
Drake claims illegal boosting, defamationSpeed Read The rapper accused Universal Music of boosting Kendrick Lamar's diss track and said UMG allowed him to be falsely accused of pedophilia
-
'Wicked' and 'Gladiator II' ignite holiday box officeSpeed Read The combination of the two movies revitalized a struggling box office
-
Jussie Smollet conviction overturned on appealSpeed Read The Illinois Supreme Court overturned the actor's conviction on charges of staging a racist and homophobic attack against himself in 2019
-
Quincy Jones, music icon, is dead at 91Speed Read The legendary producer is perhaps best known as the architect behind Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'
-
OJ Simpson, star athlete tried for murder, dead at 76Speed Read The former football hero and murder suspect lost his battle with cancer
-
Momofuku's 'Chili Crunch' trademark uproarSpeed Read The company's attempt to own the sole rights has prompted backlash
