The 48-year-old Eliyantha White has rejected vaccines against the coronavirus, the family said on Thursday in the notice of his death. White had claimed in November that he could end the pandemic in Sri Lanka and neighboring India by pouring pots of his “blessed” water into rivers.
Many believed in the shaman’s powers
The Sri Lankan Minister of Health also believed in the water treatment against Corona. However, two months later she became infected and was treated in a hospital intensive care unit.
Many sports stars and top politicians believed in the power of the shaman and have been treating injuries from White for years, among other things. “His legacy will live on through all the lives he has touched and cured of various diseases,” wrote Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on Twitter.
In his eyes, conventional doctors were fraudsters
In a 2010 interview with AFP news agency, White claimed he had had special powers since he was twelve. School doctors, on the other hand, described White as a fraud.
So far, more than 12,000 people have died of corona infection in the country with around 21 million inhabitants. More than half a million people have been infected so far. However, doctors assume that the number of unreported cases is at least twice as high.