A politician in Austria has been forced to backtrack by online critics after trying to mobilise the country for a mass meditation session to generate cosmic good vibes to fight the virus.

The health spokesman for the Far Right Austrian Freedom Party in the southern Austrian city of Graz said she wanted a million people to take part in a mass meditation which will result in the “final elimination of the coronavirus”.

Astrid Schleicher, 41, who is a politician in the regional government in the city of Graz added: “If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t do any harm.”

A spokesman for the party said that it was not party policy to suggest mass meditation, but added they would make no attempts to restrict personal opinions of their MPs.

The noted however that meditation was something that helped people in difficult times.

The posting however did not seem to attract good vibrations from the Internet community, and as a result of the criticism, it was deleted a short while later.

She said she still thought it was a good idea but was forced to take it down because of the “many hateful comments that were posted online”.

She said she remained convinced of the power of “good vibrations” and that there was many things between heaven and earth that we didn’t understand and that we should not dismiss.

She added: “When a large number of people at the same time send the same thoughts into the universe, that can only have a positive effect.”

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