Indian Man Claims Changing COVID-19 Spelling To ‘Covviyd’ Will Make Virus Disappear

A supposed government worker from a town in India has claimed that changing the spelling of COVID-19 will dispel the virus.

Twitter user @dhunji posted an image Sunday showing an advertisement from the town of Ananthapuram containing the suggestion, along with the caption, "(You) can find comedy anywhere these days."

According to the banner, which also included what appeared to be the claimant's photo, changing the spellings of coronavirus and COVID-19 in public places to "Caronaa" and "COVVIYD-19" and putting up similar ads will remove the virus in the area.

"CARONAA will be disappeared (sic) from not only from Ananthapuram dist. but also from the world," the ad said. "This is guarantee (sic) as it is divine power as per NUMEROLOGY."

The man behind the ad, S.V. Annandd Rao, claimed he was a stenographer at the town's judicial department. He also advised people with other issues such as health and wealth, among others, to get their solutions from Numerology as, according to him, it is "divine power."

Social media users were quick to take jabs at the ad.

"The world has spent trillions fighting Covid, whereas the solution is right here," one Twitter user wrote.

"If corona doesn't get us, morona will," another joked.

Another person tagged the Twitter account of the World Health Organization in a reply to the original post and said, "Take notes."

The claims came a week after police rounded up and questioned 23 people from a village in Gujarat, India, over a video of a large number of women from the village performing a religious procession amid a growing number of deaths and recorded infections in the country.

"The villagers claimed they took out the procession with the belief that it would help them get rid of the coronavirus disease," Virendra Yadav, the Superintendent of Police, Ahmedabad Rural, was quoted by the Indian Express as saying.

Tuesday data from the Johns Hopkins University said that India was nearing 23 million confirmed virus cases and nearly 250,000 deaths.

Just a day before, the World Health Organization warned the public that the B.1.617 variant of the virus spreading in the country appeared to be more contagious and classified it as a "variant of concern at the global level."