Cambodian labourers die after drinking alcohol disinfectant in Covid quarantine
A group of seven workers died in Cambodia after drinking alcohol disinfectant they were given while quarantining.
The labourers were returning home from a job in Thailand and had to isolate in a camp set up in the northwestern Banteay Meanchey province.
Naturally, they were given alcohol disinfectant to protect themselves and each other from coronavirus.
But things went wrong when several of them mixed the disinfectant with water and soft drinks on Tuesday and Wednesday.
They started feeling dizzy, suffered from headaches and began struggling to breathe.
Some 19 workers were taken to hospital, and even ended up losing their lives.
The alcohol in disinfectants and hand sanitisers is often made up of completely different chemicals to the ones in booze.
Usually, the alcohol used in these products is absorbed by the body faster, entering the bloodstream at a much quicker and more dangerous rate.
Although this is likely to create the same, if not a more extreme, intoxicating effect that booze does, the speed can overwhelm the body with toxins.
Most disinfectant companies warn people that their products should never be consumed.
Samples have been taken from those who needed treatment in Thailand and are currently being analysed at a lab in Phnom Penh.
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