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With Macau closing its casinos in the face of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak and Hong Kong declaring its first death from the virus, a controversial Indian politician has said the virus can be defeated by drinking cow urine, applying cow dung to the body and chanting “Om Namah Shivay”.

Swami Chakrapani Maharaj, president of the Indian nationalist organisation Hindu Mahasabha, has advised people to consume cow urine and cow dung to halt the effect of the infectious virus, according to Indian news outlet TimesNowNews.com.

“Swami Chakrapani Maharaj, president of Hindu Mahasabha, on Friday said cow urine and cow dung can be used for treating novel coronavirus disease,” the outlet reported. “He also said that a special yagna will be performed to ‘kill the novel coronavirus and end its effects on the world’.”

According to Wikipedia: “Swami Chakrapani is an Indian political activist and ascetic who claims to be the president of Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha, a long-standing Hindu nationalist organisation in India. He has gained media attention for his purchase of wanted criminal Dawood Ibrahim’s properties at auctions and his attempts to convert them into public toilets.”

The flamboyant swami’s suggested formula for battling the virus seems unlikely to catch on widely.

Back to more orthodox methods, Japan is doing all it can to prevent a possible outbreak after it was disclosed that an infected passenger flew into Tokyo and spent a few days aboard Princess Cruises’ ship the Diamond Princess.

This has forced authorities to lock down the vessel and quarantine thousands of people aboard.

Diamond Princess terminated its planned 14-day itinerary early. The ship is now anchored off the coast of Yokohama with 2666  guests and 1045 crew aboard.

MEANWHILE, Macau – former Portuguese colony and the world’s biggest gambling centre – will  close its casinos for two weeks. This is considered an extreme measure for a city where gaming is the lifeblood of the local economy.

Singapore’s Straits Times said the move came as Macau confirmed its 10th case of the virus.

Macau Chief Executive Ho Iat-seng, who took office in December, said the gambling industry would initially shut down for two weeks, warning that the closures could be extended if the virus continued to spread.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping told a meeting of China’s Politburo Standing Committee yesterday that the crisis is proving “a major test of China’s system and capacity for governance,” according to state-run media reports. China is beefing up its efforts to combat the virus.

Wuhan coronavirus, an obvious threat to world travel, has so far killed more than 400 people in China, infected tens of thousands and spread to more than 20 countries as the world battles to contain it and quarantine those possibly exposed to it.

Written by Peter Needham