India's poultry industry is reeling after sales fell over false claims that chickens were carriers of the coronavirus. AFP

The coronavirus makes people do weird things.

One woman who moved to Wuhan from South Africa said people were wearing water bottles since there was a shortage of face masks.

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A worker feeds chicken at a poultry farm on the outskirts of Hyderabad, India. AFP

One politician in India remarked that those blessed by Hindu deities would not contract the coronavirus.

Another Indian legislator remarked that cow urine was the best antidote.

Social media has been awash in speculation that boiled garlic cloves do wonders for those hit by the virus.

Others however go to extreme lengths. A poultry farmer in Karnataka, India, buried thousands of chickens alive to avoid the spread of the contagious disease.

A Twitter user by the name of Niranjan Kaggere (@nkaggere) shared a shocking video of the incident with the caption, "A dejected farmer Nazeer Makandar from Lolasoora village in Gokak, Belagavi, decided to bury chickens from his poultry farm, following steep fall in price due to #CoronavirusOutbreak."

In the shared video, one can see the farmer burying chickens alive in a pit. As the video went viral, Twitterati flooded the social media with their reactions.

A user wrote, "Cruel. He could have just left the chickens out. Why did he have to bury them alive."

Another wrote, "Instead of doing this, he could have distributed them for free."

"This is madness. We tend to use nature's givings and when the time comes, we show no mercy in destroying them. At least these birds could have been given some anaesthetics to kill them off. Burying something alive is not a solution to any problem," read one post.

A user remarked, "End of humanity. You can't just bury them alive on the basis of a rumour."

The poultry industry in different parts of the country has been flooded with rumours that the novel coronavirus can be transmitted through consumption of chicken, the prices of which have drastically declined as a result.

Last month, the Union Ministry of Animal Husbandry clarified that chicken might be considered safe as no report has so far confirmed it was responsible for the spread of the virus.