Mask and gloves won’t protect you from coronavirus, says medical expert

SINGAPORE: Forget face masks and rubber gloves. The best way to avoid the coronavirus is frequent hand washing, according to a medical adviser to the world’s airlines.

The virus can’t survive long on seats or armrests, so physical contact with another person carries the greatest risk of infection on a flight, said David Powell, a physician and medical adviser to the International Air Transport Association.As concern mounts about the scale of the outbreak, carriers from United Airlines Holdings Inc to Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd have scrapped thousands of flights to China.

Here is an edited transcript from an interview with Powell. IATA represents about 290 airlines and more than 80% of global air traffic.A: The risk of catching a serious viral infection on an aircraft is low. The air supply to a modern airliner is very different from a movie theatre or an office building. The air is a combination of fresh air and recirculated air, about half each. The recirculated air goes through filters of the exact same type that we use in surgical operating theatres.

A: Viruses and other microbes like to live on living surfaces like us. Just shaking hands with somebody will be a greater risk by far than some dry surface that has no biological material on it. The survival of viruses on surfaces isn’t great, so it’s believed that normal cleaning, and then the extra cleaning in the event that someone was discovered to be contagious, is the appropriate procedure.

This is very misleading ? Why ? That fellow who attend the meeting can get it ? Pls be honest to tell the public so we are prepared !!!

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