Amid the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19),which has infected 73 people in India and killed more than 4,500 individualsglobally, doctors have advised that in addition to regularly washing hands, oneshould also disinfect their smartphone every 90 minutes with alcohol-based handsanitizer.
Ravi Shekhar Jha, Head of Department at Fortis EscortsHospital in Faridabad said the best method to disinfect your smartphone is touse regular doctor spirit or the alcohol-based hand sanitizer at least every 90minutes.
“Avoid touching your eyes, mouth, or nose. The bestoption is to use a phone cover or a Bluetooth device and try to touch yourphone as less as possible. We would also recommend cleaning your phone at leasttwice a day,” Jha told IANS.
According to research, published in 2018 by Insurance2Go, agadget insurance provider, revealed that smartphone screens have three timesmore germs than a toilet seat.
One in 20 smartphone users was found to clean their phonesless than every six months, said the study.
“In the time of fear of coronavirus, smartphones shouldalso be disinfected with alcohol-based sanitizer rub. Pour few drops ofsanitizer on a tiny clean cotton pad and rub it safely on your entirephone,” said Jyoti Mutta, Senior Consultant, Microbiology, Sri BalajiAction Medical Institute in New Delhi.
“You can repeat this process every evening coming backhome after an entire day out at work and once in the morning before goingout,” Mutta added.
“Maintain basic cleanliness, and try to avoid usingother’s phones especially if suffering from respiratory illness or flu-likesymptoms as there is no other way to disinfect these regular gadgets,” shestressed.
Another study from the University of Surrey in the UK, alsofound that the home button on your smartphone may be harbouring millions ofbacteria – some even harmful.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the novelcoronavirus as a global pandemic on Wednesday. The death toll of COVID-19 hascrossed the 4,500 marks and confirmed cases globally have touched one lakh as perthe reports.
According to Suranjeet Chatterjee, Senior Consultant inInternal Medicine Department of Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals in New Delhi,”We should frequently wash our hands, cover our coughs and it is importantto adapt to other good hygiene habits that are most important in such asituation.”
“Coronavirus and other germs can live on surfaces likeglass, metal or plastics and phones are bacteria-ridden. It is necessary thatwe sanitize our hands frequently and make sure that our hands are clean all thetime,” Chatterjee told IANS.
“The emphasis should be laid on sanitising our handsrather than sanitizing the phone – once in a while the phone can be sanitizedunder the guidance of the makers of the phone,” Chatterjee stressed.
According to the global health agency, the most effectiveway to protect yourself against coronavirus is by frequently cleaning of yourhands with alcohol-based hand rub or washing them with soap and water.
The WHO’s report showed the virus infects people of allages, among which older people and those with underlying medical conditions areat a higher risk of getting infected.
People should eat only well-cooked food, avoid spitting inpublic, and avoid close contact, the WHO said, adding that it is important forpeople to seek medical care at the earliest if they become sick.