India’s Modi promotes yoga as ‘shield’ against Covid

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed yoga as a “shield” against Covid in an address to the nation on International Yoga Day on Monday.

“When I talk to frontline warriors, when I talk to doctors, they tell me that in the fight against the coronavirus, they used yoga as a protective shield,” said Modi, who is known to be a yoga enthusiast.

India’s government has promoted yoga and herbal medicines to protect and cure people throughout the pandemic, though doctors have pushed back against the claims.

International Yoga Day was proposed by Modi and adopted by the United Nations in 2014.