Urgent health warning as passengers are told they risk getting coronavirus EVERY TIME they get public transport
- Coronavirus lurking on lift buttons or possibly on a coin in your wallet
- Your hands touch a bus railing or a train seat and could pick up the deadly virus
- If you then touch your eyes, nose and mouth, you can catch the coronavirus
- Health warning to stop the spread with your hands: wash regularly, use sanitiser
Coronavirus could be lurking on public transport, elevator buttons or in the coins from your coffee change, Queensland Health warned on Friday.
‘From the railing on the bus, to a button in the lift or the exchange of coins for your morning coffee – germs are lurking on surfaces everywhere!’ said the urgent Twitter warning.
‘When you touch your eyes, nose or mouth you risk transferring the germs to your body. Stop the spread & wash your hands regularly.’
Crowded public transport is full of surfaces where people can pick up the coronavirus on their hands and then infect themselves by touching their eyes, nose or mouth
The urgent warning reminded people that coronavirus spreads when you touch a surface that has the virus on it, then touch your eyes, nose or mouth, allowing it to get into your body through the mucous membranes.
To reduce your risk of catching coronavirus you must avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.
This is a difficult thing to do as touching the face is usually an unconscious action.
A scientific study by three Australian researchers in 2015 found people touch their faces on average 24 times an hour.
Queensland Health’s timely warning to remind people to take measures to stop the spread of coronavirus. A 2015 study found people touch their faces an average of 24 times an hour
The study found that 44 per cent of all facial touching involved people touching the mucous membranes of their eyes, nose and mouth – which is how viruses and germs get into the body.
Queensland Health advised people to use alcohol-based hand sanitiser in situations where they cannot wash them, such as when you are on a train or bus.
A spokesperson also recommended staying at least 1.5 metres away from people who are coughing or sneezing.
If you have to cough or sneeze, use a tissue or a flexed elbow instead of your hand, staying home if unwell and avoiding people with symptoms such as a fever, cough, sore throat, fatigue or shortness of breath, the spokesperson said.
Wearing gloves can help deter facial touching as it reminds you every time you lift your hand to your face, not to touch.
Bus railings are a potential source of infection and passengers should use alcohol-based hand rub regularly and wash their hands as often as they can
Transport for NSW has also issued public health messaging such as the importance of washing hands across their network.
New South Wales remains the epicentre of Australia’s coronavirus outbreak with 28 of the nation’s 63 cases so far.
World Health Organisation director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday that the fatality rate of the Covid-19 disease caused by the virus had increased to 3.4 percent worldwide.
‘Globally, about 3.4 percent of reported Covid-19 cases have died,’ he told a news conference in Geneva.
This makes the coronavirus deadlier than the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic which scientists believe had a fatality rate of over 2.5 percent.
Influenza has a fatality rate of 0.1 percent by comparison.
More than 98,000 cases of the highly-infectious coronavirus have been confirmed worldwide as of Friday, with more than 17,000 cases outside of mainland China.
South Korea topped 6,200 cases on Friday, while Italy had more than 3800 and Iran reported more than 3,500 although experts think Iran’s tally may be far higher.