EXTRA: Indian healer who kissed hands to ‘cure COVID-19’ dies from the virus

A self-acclaimed healer in Ratlam, a city in Madhya Pradesh, India, who claimed he could heal those infected with COVID-19 by kissing their hands, has died from the virus.

According to Times of India, the healer’s death came after he infected at least 20 of his followers who had contact with him.

It was gathered that the spiritualist used to kiss the hands of his devotees, claiming such would address their problems.

He had also claimed his “kiss-cure” — which he christened “COVID-19 exorcisms” — could cure suspected suffers of the virus.

This is despite warning by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that the virus could spread from one person to another through droplets from the mouth or nose.

The spiritual healer was said to have tested positive for the disease on June 3, after he began having severe symptoms.  He died on June 4.

Following his death, local health authorities commenced contact-tracing, taking swab samples of about 40 persons in the process.

Ruchika Chouhan, who collected the samples, revealed that twenty of them — including seven members of the man’s family — had tested positive for the virus with more reports still being expected.

The development, it is understood, had made local authorities to commence search for occultists who indulge in similar “exorcisms”, with 29 of them said to have been rounded up in a quarantine centre.

It comes weeks after Frankline Ndifor, a 39-year-old Cameroonian pastor, who claimed he could cure COVID-19 sufferers by laying hands on them, died from the virus.

India has so far recorded 309,603 cases of the novel disease with 8,890 deaths, according to worldometers.