A cup of tea can kill off Covid in the mouth.
Drinking tea destroys COVID-19 in the mouth
Researchers in the US conducted tests of five types of tea to see how effectively they eliminated levels of the virus in the oral cavity by putting them in hot water for 15 minutes and preparing them at two different concentrations.
At the strongest concentration, all varieties showed a reduction in virus activity within 10 seconds.
Standard black tea cut levels by 99.9 per cent while green, mint, raspberry and eucalyptus teas cut them by at least 96 per cent.
However, the experts warned that deactivating COVID-19 in saliva is no substitute for getting a vaccine.
Virologist Malak Esseili said: "At this stage, we are not suggesting tea as a standalone intervention because the virus also replicates in the nose and may have already reached the lung by the time of a positive test.
"But tea can be an additional layer of intervention that patients and their families can adopt as routine."
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