A former Sri Lankan fisheries minister has eaten raw fish during a live press conference while speaking on behalf of the fishing industry.
Dilip Wedaarachchi, a member of the Sri Lankan parliament, was fronting the November 17 press conference where he addressed a slump in fish sales amid coronavirus fears.
"I am making an appeal to the people of this country to eat this fish," he says in a video of the event. "Don't be afraid. You will not get infected by the coronavirus."
Dilip then took a bite of the raw fish to prove his claims.
He continues: “Our people who are in the fisheries industry cannot sell their fish. People of this country are not eating fish.”
Watch Dilip eat the raw fish below:The footage has received a mixed response online, with viewers in equal parts stunned by Dilip's actions and impressed by his determination to save the Sri Lankan fishing industry.
One Twitter user wrote: "When is his funeral? Surely he knew raw fish carry deadly parasites."
A second added: "I bet it was actually a cake."
A third joked: "And kids that's how COVID-20 started."
Whereas a fourth simply reacted with sick emojis:
A supporter of Dilip, meanwhile, wrote: Think of the commitment of our former fisheries minister of #SriLanka to go in front of the media & eat raw fish [to] to boost fish consumption in this island as a desperate bid to protect the livelihoods of his own community while current cabinet minister sleep over the matter [sic]."
Another Twitter user addressed British politician Nigel Farage, writing: "C'mon @Nigel_Farage, if you love our fishing industry as much as you say you do you’ll do this too! [sic]"
As per the Telegraph, the Central Fish Market outside the Sri Lankan capital Colombo was the location of a major coronavirus outbreak in October.
This resulted in a major blow to the fishing industry when stock went unsold following thousands of additional coronavirus cases across the country.
Prior to the outbreak, fish was a mainstay of the Sri Lankan diet, Reuters reports.
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