Take shoes off immediately and only wear one pair outside to stop coronavirus

A pair of experts are warning the nation on how your shoes can spread coronavirus.

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A doctor and a virologist have been educating people on what to do to stop the virus from coming inside our homes.

Dr Javid Abdelmoneim, an A&E doctor, and virologist Dr Lisa Cross have been guiding and empowering the families and viewers at home on helpful and easy to follow action points to keep your home safe on Channel 4’s Coronavirus: How Clean Is Your House? Show.

While hand washing inactivates the virus on our hands, coronavirus particles can still infiltrate our homes by other means.

The pair are warning people that they need to take their shoes off immediately and only wear one pair outside.

They say: “When you first come in from the outside, take off your shoes immediately. Most shoes have a non-porous rubbery sole, which the virus can survive on anywhere between three and five days.

“Keep shoes in your hallway, or the same spot and try to use only one pair of shoes to go outside.

“It’s believed coronavirus can last up to 24 hours on clothes. If you have had to use public transport, or come into close contact with people, think about changing your clothes immediately and putting them in the wash.”

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The pair have also given some advice on collecting your takeaway, which could potentially have virus on.

Current guidance tells us that the food itself is unlikely to be a risk, because even if virus particles are ingested, they probably would not survive in our stomach acid.

But the takeaway packaging could be an area of concern because the virus can survive for 24 hours on cardboard and three to five days on plastic.

It is important to remove the outer packaging and discard, wipe down with a bit of soap and water and disinfect any surfaces it may have touched.

Virologist Lisa Cross has also revealed you only need two cleaning products – either a correctly diluted bleach solution or soap and water.

Soap and water is hugely versatile and particularly suitable for destroying the virus on items that come into contact with food, and for cleaning children’s toys safely and effectively.

While bleach is good for high-traffic spots with hard surfaces, like light switches, most floors and worktops.

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Dr Javid has also advised it is good to ensure you have separate tea towels – having a separate hand-drying towel to your dish-drying towel, to stop cross-contamination.

When washing your dish clothes and tea towels in the washing machine, it’s recommended you do it at 60 or above, because that elevated temperature will inactivate the virus.

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