A person is in intensive care after drinking a bleach-like solution in an attempt to cure Covid-19.
Miracle Mineral Solution has been touted as a cure for Covid-19 and promoted as effective destroyers of pathogens, fungi, disease, bacteria and viruses.
However, the products contain a high concentration of sodium chlorite, which is used for textile bleaching and as a disinfectant.
When mixed as directed, the sodium chlorite develops into chlorine dioxide – a bleach that can cause dangerous and potentially life-threatening side effects when consumed, Medsafe said.
"Consuming these products is the same as drinking bleach," Medsafe warns.
"These products are not approved medicines. Their quality and efficacy are unknown, and we recommend not taking them. There is no evidence that these products are effective for the prevention or treatment of Covid-19."
It comes as there are 7592 new Covid-19 community cases in New Zealand on Monday.
The numbers were reported over the last 24 hours.
There are 640 people in hospital with the virus, including 23 in an intensive care or high dependency unit.
This is an increase on Sunday's hospitalisations of 604, with one more person in ICU compared with 24 hours ago.
The Ministry of Health also announced 11 Covid-related deaths. Ten of them had died over the past three days, while one had died 12 days ago. The deaths were only recently identified to the ministry.
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