I am a virologist at Stellenbosch University and my specialization is on coronaviruses and bat-derived viruses. This message is in response to the circulating whatsapp message claiming that Saudi Ministry of Health urges us to wash dates to get rid of coronaviruses as date trees are bat-infested and bats are coronavirus carriers. Please note the following :
1. I have not come across any such evidence or news regarding any higher than normal amounts of bats in date palms, if they live there at all.
2. If the fruit were indeed covered in coronaviruses, washing dates won't help - they would have to be cooked or sterilised. If there are any virus on/in the dates it would be dead before it reached you anyway, given the long transport time required for shipping.
3.Please be aware that bat coronaviruses are very unlikely to affect humans directly. If that was the case the date farmers would be the first ones to get infected from handling the fruit. But there have been no reports of such a thing happening, not recently and not previously either. Please note that MERS coronavirus was spread from camels to humans (and there were also cases of camel handlers falling ill). Yes it is true that bats carry coronaviruses but none of the bat coronaviruses are known to infect humans directly, it can only infect after going via another animal, eg camel and this takes many years to happen. Since camels don't climb trees to eat dates, we are safe from MERS infections via dates.
4. All food exported naturally must meet a safety and hygiene standard that is internationally acceptable. If the Saudi Ministry of Health had such a doubt they would not allow the dates to be sold or they'd have to test each batch before shipping overseas otherwise they risk infecting people across the world. To date there have not been reports of people getting coronavirus infections from eating dates.
5. If it was true in any case we'd see cases already in Saudi Arabia of people getting sick from eating dates. There'd be a direct link. We'd also see a focal point of many cases in saudi and a dispersed number of cases in the middle east and finally around the world where the dates are exported to. This is not the case.
6. The Muslim world does not need more hysteria. Please kindly ask for sources of any such information when it reaches you. Where and when did the ministry of health say this?was it an official announcement? Did it appear in the Arab News newspaper online? What do the South African food hygiene authorities have to say? All the information given here is searchable online. Please feel free to look it up and interpret it IN CONTEXT. Insha Allah there will not be any contradictions.
7. Feel free to wash your dates to get rid of dust, sand, ants, excess sugar etc but viruses shouldn't be a concern. Go ahead, enjoy it and make dua for me.
And Allah knows best. Barakallah Feekum. Was Salaam
Your Sister in Islam
Dr Tasnim Suliman (PhD)
(Medical virologist specializing in emerging virus research at Stellenbosch University, Tygerberg, Cape Town, South Africa)
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