# I. Background he whole world continued to face worst public health and economic catastrophe from the onslaught of Covid-19 pandemic over more than a year with no solution in sight so far. SARS-CoV-2 virus is one of the most virulent strains of coronavirus that has inflicted colossal hardships on the global population primarily in terms of untimely deaths of loved ones and huge financial losses. Economy of the whole world is jeopardised. Perpetual fear of death forced the human race to adopt new living normal on a global scale. There are several health disorders manifestations that resulted from the infected and uninfected populations and created additional healthcare burdens on an unprecedented scale. Frequent usage of sanitizers, and prolonged wearing of face masks caused many skin and health disorders especially mental disorders. Global data over a year on Covid-19 morbidity and mortality among most of the rich and poor countries baffled public healthcare professionals and doctors all over the world. The USA and the EU nations like the UK, France, Italy, and Spain reported morbidity/mortality per million several hundred times more than the poor or underdeveloped countries like India, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Nepal and Afghanistan where morbidity/mortality is zero or significantly low. No explanation has come up till date for this huge difference in morbidity/mortality between the rich and poor countries. Stretched isolation and lockdowns resulted in separation from elderly parents and children and vice versa have caused elevated anxiety levels that led to onset of many non-communicable health disorders including suicides. 2 Reported spikes in suicides by individual and families for want of money and uncertain future including the suicide by 54 year old Thomas Schäfer, German finance minister, are causes of serious concern. Spurt in clinical manifestation of several noncommunicable health disorders of unknown origin like mild to severe abdominal pain, hypo-and hypertension, disturbed sleep, myalgia, convulsions, mental disorders like compulsive obsessive disorder (COD), prolonged constipation, gastrointestinal (GI) disorders, skin disorders like stress rashes, warts and allergy, and many more are being reported from all over the world. Aggravation of pre-existed health disorders is also being reported. # T Radioactivity Properties of Natural Salts Proving a Strong Prophylaxis in Covid-19 Pandemic According to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center data, the pandemic caused more than 88.5 million cases and 1.9 million deaths globally; 1 India reportedly had more than 10.4 million cases with death toll of 150,606 at the time of writing on by 08 th January, 2021 and numbers are galloping with every passing day. Despite the vast global pool of healthcare knowledge no ideal treatment has been evolved so far. The virus has been found to affect almost all organs including the brain. Cases of blood clots and existence of virus in seminal fluid have also been increasingly reported thus affecting sustainability of the human race. Near absence or short life of antibodies in symptomatic subjects is a major cause of concern leading to frequent relapses and dimming the hope of any effective long term vaccine. On an average, a sizable majority of this adult population observes at least 5-6 fasts in a year and consume rock salt even if they are totally dependent on the pure sodium salt; its importance will be discussed later. # III. # Hypothesis Based on the clinical experience for almost a decade on root cause of increasing incidence and prevalence of non-communicable diseases and simultaneous observations on influenza like illness (ILI) and vector born morbidities, it is hypothesized that SARS-CoV-2 morbidity/mortality is inversely proportional to consumption of natural salts or directly proportional to the pure sodium chloride table salt: The hypothesis is aimed to find an answer for the huge difference of morbidity/mortality in economically rich and poor countries, with special reference to Japan that has lowest morbidity/mortality among rich countries with the similar healthcare infrastructure. IV. Inactivating effects of radioactive radiations on viruses were studied in the past. 9,10 It seems that even occasional intake of natural rock salt provided enough radioactive radiations to inactivate attacking viruses and thus enable the body to fight onslaught of pathogens successfully. No other explanation supports such a low morbidity/mortality in India where 65.97% of 1.35 billion disadvantaged population lives in villages and is deprived of adequate nourishment with little or no modern healthcare system. c) Radioactivity processes in human body: Host of radioactive elements found in human body play very critical role in many metabolic functions e.g. iodine for thyroid. These radioactive elements 238 U, 234 U, 232 Th, 210 Po, 210 Pb, 40 K, 226 Ra, 228 Ra, 14 C, 7 Be, 22 Na, 137 Cs and 90 Sr enters the body mostly though dietary route and many others listed exclusively in Table-1. The concentration of the gamma emitting radionuclides, except for 40 K, in human is so small that their detection is difficult. 11,12 On natural decay radioactive elements emit ?, ?, and ? radiations and get transformed into secondary radionuclides or daughter nuclides and granddaughter nuclides and so on emitting radiations till radioactive However, one year data from India on morbidity/mortality projected a different picture showing that high SES population from affluent urban areas were found to be affected more; these people consume ultra refined iodised table salt. # Discussions Processing of salt: Ultra refining of natural salts salt removes MMTE that contribute about 14% by weight. The US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) have identified 60 elements of the natural salt as essential nutrients. 13 In June 2016, the US National Research Council labelled 29 of these 60 micro-and trace-elements as "possibly" or "probably" essential and beneficial to human health; these elements include bromine, boron, chromium, calcium, copper, fluoride, iodine, iron, manganese, magnesium, molybdenum, potassium, phosphorus, selenium, silver, sulphur, and zinc. 14% fraction of natural salt comprising of MMTE that contains these 29 identified essential elements is large enough to ignore and neglect. [14][15][16][17] It is important to discuss Covid-19 mortality in Afghanistan and India where extensive salt iodization programmes were implemented in last 50 years. Afghanistan accomplished almost 100 percent salt iodization programmes with 11 salt processing plants under UNICEF funding. Afghanistan achieved 66.2% adequate iodized salt consumption and 33.8% inadequate iodized salt way back in 2013. 20 On the other hand healthcare infrastructure is dismal in Afghanistan and thus reported a greater number of casualties per million compared to other countries like Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Among underdeveloped or poor Programmes: Global salt iodization programmes initiated by WHO and UNICEF in early 1960s with an aim to eliminate iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) mainly goitre. For example in India, the last 50 years of state sponsored programme on forced consumption of iodized salt through ban on natural sea salt could not eliminate sporadic prevalence of thyroid disorders and rather it has attained epidemic status along with other NCDs. Today, it is hard to find a family where thyroid disorder patients are not available. In India, every third Indian suffers from a thyroid disorder. 18 Hypothyroidism has graduated from endemic to silent pandemic on a global scale in the last 50-55 years. In 2016, Levothyroxine (synthetic thyroxine) was prescribed to more than 114 million hypothyroidism patients in the USA alone and retained number one position in top 300 drugs sold even in 2019. 19 These global observations speak loud on the failure of the fit-forall iodization programmes. Increasing rates of incidence of NCD clearly found to follow the salt iodization growth trajectory in every country. Iodization was thought to be magic wand for IDD and every government world over were convinced for its implementation irrespective of iodine deficiency perhaps under commercial compulsions from salt industry. Even the Asia's largest Indian slum in Mumbai -DHARAVI -spread over 2.1 sq kms with a population of 0.7 million where implementation WHO guidelines of social distancing, face mask, and sanitizers was a daunting task reported only 86 deaths by 1 st July 2020. 23 It was thought to be the most challenging task to contain the virus in the community where hundreds of people use the same toilet. Underlying cause for extremely low mortality appeared to be the consumption of crystal sea salt by the majority of the 0.7 million deprived class. This hypothesis fits well to explain zero or low mortality among other poor countries like Myanmar as well distant Southeast Asian countries like Cambodia and Laos that are largely depended on natural salts. The hypothesis also explained low mortality among supposedly high risk group of elderly (>70 years) who have more exposure to natural salts during their early life span compared to youths who are wary of observing fast. The American and European populations are almost totally dependent upon highly processed pure sodium table salt deprived of trace elements compared to populations of Asia and Africa and this trend is amply demonstrated in recent mayhem caused by Covid-19 pandemic proving prophylaxis properties of the natural salts. V. # Conclusions Sooner or later some therapeutics or vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 virus may see the light of the day but by then another epidemic or pandemic may be knocking at the door. Already another wave of infection in Wuhan, the UK, Germany and Sweden showed significant variation in the SARS-CoV-2 virus characteristics. Outbreaks of several epidemics like HIN1, H1N7, EBOLA, ZIKA and MERS occurred one after another in the past and now SARS-CoV-2 has spread across the world. It is an unbreakable chain with a huge burden on a country's healthcare system and economy. Moreover, it is impossible to exercise WHO guidelines of social distancing etc. for long time. It has also been experienced that a host of vaccines and therapeutics developed earlier are little effective for SARS-CoV-2 infection resulting in over 1.9 million deaths till date and the situation is not likely to improve during the outbreak of another epidemic/pandemic. Hence a better and simple solution is required which is inexpensive, regular, and faster to implement. Based on radioactive properties, it is strongly experienced that regular consumption of natural salts offers the best prophylaxis solution against viral pandemic and would be helpful in improving global health. Moreover, natural salt doesn't have any harmful side effects as it was consumed and tested till a 6-7 decades ago by everyone world over for ages. a) World Health Organization (WHO):Several long 30 Arsenic 33 <0.01 ppm74picture of coming times. Nobody can predict the Gold 79 <1.0 ppmlockdowns, face masks and social distancing as per 31 Selenium 34 0.05 ppm75health outcome of such measures in the case of Mercury 80 <0.03 ppmthe WHO guidelines could not impede increasing 32 Bromine 35 2.1 ppm76infants and toddlers. Already handful of deaths have Thallium 81 0.06 ppmmorbidity/mortality rates in developed countries despite robust healthcare infrastructure. Global healthcare experts and WHO have expressed draconian opinion that the virus is going to stay and all have to learn live with it. Thus, unlike earlier epidemics, Covid-19 pandemic is likely to make a paradigm shift in living protocol for next several years in absence of any inexpensive treatment or 33 Rubidium 37 0.04 ppm 34 Strontium 38 0.014 g/kg 35 Yttrium 39 <0.001 ppm 36 Zirconium 40 <0.001 ppm 37 Niobium 41 <0.001 ppm 38 Molybdenum 42 0.01 ppm 39 Technetium * 43 Unstable 40 Ruthenium 44 <0.001 ppm 41 Rhodium 45 <0.001 ppm prophylaxis. On 13 July 2020, Director General of WHO warned "If basics are not followed, the only 42 Palladium 46 <0.001 ppm 43 Silver 47 0.031 ppm77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87Lead been reported across the world on account of face 82 0.01 ppm Bismuth 83 <0.01 ppm masks and PPE kits. 4-6 Distress calls to specialists Polonium * 84 <0.001 ppm like psychiatrists, ophthalmologists, dermatologists, Astatine * 85 <0.001 ppm and cardiologists have increased 3-4 times. How Francium * 87 <1.0 ppm long these precautions need to be taken? It should Radium * 88 <0.001 ppm not have happened that in the process of defeating Actinium * 89 <0.001 ppm the virus global population fall victim to other long Thorium * 90 <0.001 ppm term morbidities and forget pre-pandemic life. Protactinium * 91 <0.001 ppm II. Uranium * 92 <0.001 ppm Materials & Methods Neptunium * 93 <0.001 ppmway this pandemic is going to go -it is going to get worse and worse and worse." 3 Now most of the healthcare experts talk about second wave of 44 Cadmium 48 <0.01 ppm * Radioactive elements b) Data on morbidity/mortality has been taken from destruction. b) The big question arises: Do we all have to live with face masks, social distancing, personal protective equipment (PPE) kits, compulsive use of sanitizers, lockdowns, work-from-home, on-line schools, no beach strolls, no enjoyment tours, no nightlife, no morning walk, no family celebrations, no religious gatherings and no friends gathering. These guidelines have already started showing dreaded Table-1: Spectral analysis of Himalayan Rock Salt a) Natural Salts: Natural salts are basis for the study. Ancient system of Indian medicine (Ayurveda) associates many clinical and nutritional values to 88 Plutonium * 94 <0.001 ppm natural salts especially the pink Himalayan rock salt. These salts contains more than 85 micro-macro-minerals and trace elements (MMTE); some of these elements are radioactive capable of emitting ?, ?, and ? radiations. 7 Spectral analysis shows that Himalayan rock salt contains 86 elements including 12 radioactive elements besides sodium and chlorine (Table-1). S. No. Element Atomic Number Concentration S. No. Element Atomic Number Concentration 1 Hydrogen 1 0.3 g/kg 45 Indium <0.001 ppm 2 Lithium 3 0.4 g/kg 46 Tin <0.01 ppm 3 Beryllium 4 <0.01 ppm 47 Antimony <0.01 ppm 4 Boron 5 <0.001 ppm 48 Tellurium <0.001 ppm 5 Carbon 6 <0.001 ppm 49 Iodine 0.01 g/kg 6 Nitrogen 7 <0.024 ppm 50 Cesium <0.001 ppm 7 Oxygen 8 1.2 g/kg 51 Barium 1.96 ppm 8 Fluoride 9 <0.1 g/kg 52 Lanthanum <0.001 ppm 9 Sodium 11 382.61 g/kg 53 Cerium <0.001 ppm 10 Magnesium 12 0.16 g/kg 54 Praseodymium <0.001 ppm 11 Aluminium 13 0.661 ppm 55 Neodymium <0.001 ppm 12 Silicon 14 <0.1 g/kg 56 Promethium * Unstable 13 Phosphorus 15 <0.1 ppm 57 Samarium <0.001 ppm 14 Sulphur 16 1.24 g/kg 58 Europium <3.0 ppm 15 Chloride 17 590.93 g/kg 59 Gadolinium <0.001 ppm 16 Potassium 19 3.5 g/kg 60 Terbium <0.001 ppm 17 Calcium 20 4.05 g/kg 61 Dysprosium <0.4 ppm 18 Scandium 21 <0.0001 ppm 62 Holmium <0.001 ppm 19 Titanium 22 <0.001 ppm 63 Erbium <0.001 ppm 20 Vanadium 23 0.06 ppm 64 Thulium <0.001 ppm 21 Chromium 24 0.05 ppm 65 Ytterbium <0.001 ppm 22 Manganese 25 0.27 ppm 66 Lutetium <0.001 ppm 23 Iron 26 38.9 ppm 67 Hafnium <0.001 ppm 24 Cobalt 27 0,6 ppm 68 Tantalum 1.1 ppm 25 Nickel 28 0.13 ppm 69 Wolfram <0.001 ppm 26 Copper 29 0.56 ppm 70 Rhenium <2.5 ppm 27 Zinc 30 2.38 ppm 71 Osmium <0.001 ppm opensource centre of Johns Hopkins University 1 for the study. It has been further supplemented with the other reliable sources in digital and print Table-2: Mortality per million data for about a year up to 8 th January 2021 Developed Countries Mortalities Under Developed Countries Mortalities The USA 1,127 Laos 0 The UK 1,153 Cambodia 0 France 1,023 Vietnam 0.35 Spain 1,105 Nepal 65 Belgium 1,716 Myanmar 51 Italy 1,279 Sri Lanka 10 Canada 437 Afghanistan 57 Russia 414 Pakistan 47 Japan 30 India 109 Note: China is not considered because of suspicious data. Table-3: Comparisons between rich Indian-Americans and deprived class of native Indians Parameters New Jersey (USA) Doctors (n=2) Extreme Rural Poor in India Socioeconomic Status High Lowest Hygiene High Lowest Nutrition/food Rich and balanced Difficult two square meals Health Excellent Undernourished Healthcare Access to state-of-art Almost nil Vulnerability Low High SARS-CoV-2 Impact Infected and succumbed No case of infection reported so far Salt type Ultra refined table salt Cheapest raw sea salt e) Earlier Study 47 Year 2021 Global Journal of Medical Research Volume XXI Issue I Version I ( D D D D )28Gallium31<0.001 ppm72Iridium<2.0 ppm29Germanium32<0.001 ppm73Platinum0.47 ppmc) Socioeconomic Status (SES) and dietary habits of natives in rich and poor countries were also studied to see if there is any bearing on pandemic strike and survival.d) A passing reference to ethnicity has also been considered. An important input stems from the mortality of two affluent practicing Indian-American doctors in New Jersey, USA, in the first week of May 2020. For the purpose of study, a preliminary comparison was made with extreme poverty stricken subjects in India, Table-3: 8 : The present study is supplemented by an earlier study made in 2015 on prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCD) involving 314 subjects from 78 families comprising children and elderly population of both genders across India that indicated significant role of ultra refined table salt for the onset of NCD. The study was initiated during K © 2021 Global Journals treatment of chronic diseases and subjects were media. f) Religious Practices: -S. No.ElementConcentrationHalf-life Period1.Protactinium<0.001 ppm1.17 minutes2.Francium< 1.0 ppm22 minutes3.Astatine<0.001 ppm8.7 hours4.PromethiumUnstable17.7 years5.Actinium< 0.001 ppm21.77 years6.Polonium< 0.001 ppm102 years7.Radium< 0.001 ppm1600 years8.Thorium< 0.001 ppm7.54x10 4 years9.Neptunium< 0.001 ppm2.14x10 6 years10.Uranium< 0.001 ppm2.34x10 7 years11.Plutonium< 0.001 ppm8.0x010 7 years12.TechnetiumUnstable4.21x10 6 yearsd) SES Linkage with Mortality: Lower SESpopulations were suspected to be more vulnerableto Covid-19 pandemic for reasons of:a. Weak health infrastructure,b. High rate of poverty,c. Malnutrition, andd. Poor living conditions like an unsanitary/unhygienicenvironment. Radioactivity Properties of Natural Salts Proving a Strong Prophylaxis in Covid-19 Pandemic K © 2021 Global Journals Radioactivity Properties of Natural Salts Proving a Strong Prophylaxis in Covid-19 Pandemic Acknowledgements: Author is grateful to all participants. ## Conflict of Interests: None Funding: None ## References Références Referencias * JohnsHopkins Coronavirus Resource Center January 2021 * COVID-19 and consequences of isolating the elderly, The Lancet Public Health RArmitage LBNellums 10.1016/S2468-2667 19 Mar 2020 20 30061 * Coronavirus crisis may get worse, worse and worse, WHO warns. Reuters Geneva 14 Jul 2020 * PPE. The Telegraph India 20 Jun 2020 * Best not to wear mask during PE. The Star Malaysia 11 May 2020 * Student deaths stir controversy over face mask rule in PE classes Minerals in Himalayan Pink Salt: Spectral Analysis China 5 May 2020. May 2020 3 * Decoding increasing prevalence of noncommunicable diseases AKThakur 10.4103/jncd.jncd_46_18 Int J Non-Commun Dis 3 2018 * The Sterways Process: a new approach to inactivating viruses using gamma radiation BRReid 10.1006/biol.1998.0132 Biologicals 26 1998 * The effect of ionising radiation on the interfering property of influenza virus WFPowell ECPollard 1016/0042-6822(56)90027-7 Virology 2 1956 * UNSCEAR 1982 REPORT. IONIZING RADIATION: SOURCES AND BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS * Radioactivity in human body and its detection DDRao 10.4103/0972-0464.112337 Radiation Protection and Environment 35 2012 * Diet and Health: Implications for Reducing Chronic Disease Risk US FDA Guidance for Industry Trace Elements -Recommended Dietary Allowances -NCBI * (eds) Clinical Nutrition of the Essential Trace Elements and Minerals. Nutrition and Health Jd Bogden 10.1007/978-1-59259-040-7_1 Bogden J.D., Klevay L.M. 2000 Humana Press Totowa, NJ The Essential Trace Elements and Minerals * Clinical Nutrition of the Essential Trace Elements and Minerals. Nutrition and Health Fh Nielsen 10.1007/978-1-59259-040-7_1 Bogden J.D., Klevay L.M. 2000 Humana Press Totowa, NJ Possibly Essential Trace Elements * Alarming! Nearly every third Indian suffers from a thyroid disorder 10.1007/978-1-59259-040-7_2 * The Top 300 of 2019 * Nutrition International and partners disseminate results of India Iodine Survey IShinwari BAHamid AWAminee 2018-19. 2018-19 Across Afghanistan children are now iodine sufficient * Iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) control in India SChandrakant KapilPandav RahulYadav RijutaSrivastava MGPandav Karmarkar Indian J Med Res 138 3 2013 * Chasing the virus: How India's largest slum overcame a pandemic