© Provided by The Independent Peru is to officially investigate whether drinking or injecting bleach could cure Covid-19, it has been reported.
Lawmakers in the South American country's congress have voted to set up a committee investigating if chlorine dioxide could be used in the fight against the deadly virus.
The chemical is commonly used in industrial processes such as sterilizing medical equipment, cleaning industrial machinery or bleaching wood and textiles.
Scientists across the planet have repeatedly warned against its use inside the human body pointing out that the effects - including internal bleeding, respiratory failure and acute kidney failure - could be lethal.
But in a move echoing Donald Trump's infamous suggestion that scientists should explore the idea of injecting bleach, Peruvian congress member Posemoscrowte Chagua introduced a congress motion on Thursday asking health ministers to take evidence on the subject.
Chagua, who is himself a doctor, dismissed concerns that chlorine dioxide is toxic and instead suggested it could prove to be a vital tool in the battle with coronavirus, reports Vice.
Video: US eases Covid-19 mask rules for fully vaccinated people (France 24)
US eases Covid-19 mask rules for fully vaccinated people
-
Israel-Gaza tensions escalating with 'barrage of rockets fired from Gaza' after new Israeli strikes While the Israeli military has been massing troops on the border with the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said a ground operation is not his priority, despite reports saying the opposite. Violence between the two sides is still escalating, with a barrage of rockets fired from Gaza, after Israeli forces destroyed other Hamas positions, as FRANCE 24's correspondent Irris Makler reports from Jerusalem. 
France 24 -
Israel's Netanyahu says too soon for truce despite amid troop massing at Gaza border While the Israeli military has been massing troops on the border with the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said a ground operation is not his priority, despite reports saying the opposite. International powers have been calling for a ceasefire but Netanyahu has insisted that this is not the moment for a truce. France 24 -
Egyptian authorities worried of Covid-19 infections rise during Eid al-fitr celebrations As Muslims around the world are celebrating the Eid al-Fitr holiday, marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, Egyptian authorities are worried that this week's festivities could lead to a jump in coronavirus cases. That precisely at a time when daily infections are already on the rise. FRANCE 24's Edouard Dropsy, Claire Williot & Matthew Thompson bring this special report from Cairo. France 24
![UP NEXT]()
UP NEXT
Lawmakers voted 49 to 39 in favour of his proposal.
The vote came as Peru continues to be devastated by the global pandemic.
The country has the highest reported per capita death rates in the world and, while fatality numbers are now slowing slightly, April saw record numbers of people killed by the virus.
That followed after the country's so-called "vaccinegate" scandal which saw hundreds of politicians jump the national queue to secretly receive their jabs early prompting considerable national outrage.
All the same, not everyone agrees that bleach is the answer to the nation's woes.
Samuel Cosmé, general secretary of Peru's society of intensive care specialists, condemned congress's move, saying he had already had to repeatedly treat Covid-19 patients whose condition had been worsened by consuming chlorine dioxide.
"The situation with the pandemic in Peru is lamentable, and so is the situation in our congress," he said.