Kenyan Governor, Mike Sonko, is under fire for reportedly including bottles of Hennessy in COVID-19 care packages.
Sonko, the governor of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, confirmed in a media briefing on Tuesday, April 14, that small bottles of Hennesy will be included in the care packages. He justified his decision by saying that the cognac is a “throat sanitizer.”
“I think from the research conducted by the World Health Organization and various organizations, it has been believed that alcohol plays a major role in killing the coronavirus,” Sonko said in a video.
This comes on the same day the World Health Organization announced that people staying at home should limit their alcohol consumption because alcohol can weaken a person’s overall health and make them more susceptible to catching COVID-19. The WHO also stated that alcohol cannot act as a treatment against COVID-19.
Hennessy representatives responded to Sonko in a statement to Nairobi News. “Our attention has been drawn to a video circulating across different media channels on Tuesday 14 of April 2020, alleging that the consumption of Hennessy helps to fight COVID-19. Hennessy would like to stress that the consumption of our brand or any other alcoholic beverage does not protect against the virus.
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