More than 700 people have died after ingesting toxic methanol, thinking it can cure the new coronavirus — COVID-19.

According to Al Jazeera, the incident took place in Iran where the national coroner’s authority says that alcohol poisoning has killed 728 Iranians between February 20 and April 7 amid the coronavirus outbreak as compared to last year’s 66 fatalities from the same.

An adviser to the Iranian Health Ministry, Hossein Hassanian, said that the difference in death tallies is because some alcohol poisoning victims died outside of hospital.

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Some 200 people died outside of hospitals, Hassanian was quoted as saying.

Iran is facing the worst coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East with 5,806 deaths and more than 91,000 confirmed case.

Methanol cannot be smelled or tasted in drinks. It causes delayed organ and brain damage. Symptoms include chest pain, nausea, hyperventilation, blindness and even coma.

In Iran, the government mandates that manufacturers of toxic methanol add an artificial color to their products so the public can tell it apart from ethanol, the kind of alcohol that can be used in cleaning wounds. Ethanol is found in alcoholic beverages, though its production is illegal in Iran.

READ: Britain, France, Germany bypass US sanctions to send medical aid to virus-hit Iran

Some bootleggers in Iran use methanol, adding a splash of bleach to mask the added color before selling it as drinkable. Methanol also can contaminate traditionally fermented alcohol.

The consumption of alcohol is generally prohibited in Iran. However, minority Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians can drink alcoholic beverages in private.

Following the coronavirus outbreak, Iran’s government announced it would issue permission for new alcohol factories quickly.

Iran has currently some 40 alcohol factory that have been allocated for pharmaceutical and sanitising items.

The report comes days after United States (US) President Donald Trump raised the possibility of injecting disinfectant into patients, causing an international uproar with manufacturers, doctors and government agencies rushing out warnings against consuming disinfectants like bleach.