Question

Why personal hygiene could assist in curbiung the spread of the corona virus

Answer 1

Answer:

SINGAPORE - In the ongoing battle to contain the spread of Covid-19, every measure will help to prevent its spread, from border controls to social distancing recommendations and even personal hygiene habits, experts said on Monday (March 23).

"Social distancing, personal hygiene, (and) business continuity plans can all help to reduce R0 (R-naught) to less than one," said infectious diseases expert Wang Linfa, during a panel discussion hosted by The Straits Times on the importance of personal hygiene amid the Covid-19 outbreak.

R0 refers to the basic reproduction number. It indicates the natural spread of the virus, said Professor Wang, who is director of the programme in emerging infectious diseases at Duke-NUS Medical School.

If R0 is less than one, it means each existing infection causes fewer than one new infection. In this case, the disease will decline and eventually die out, but if it is greater than one, it will probably keep spreading.

Countries, including Singapore, are taking measures to drive R0 to less than one, said Prof Want.

"I think so far we're doing pretty good, but I think we need to really keep it up," he said, adding that everyone, from the individual to the Government, could help to draw down R0 for Covid-19.

Prof Wang said the R0 for Covid-19 is estimated to be between two and three, similar to the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars). In comparison, the R0 for measles is about 12.

Prof Wang said bringing R0 down would also help to "flatten the epidemic curve" by preventing the number of infected cases from surging suddenly.

The epidemic curve is an n-shaped curve that is used to visualise when new cases happen and at what speed during a virus outbreaks

Said Prof Wang: "If you let the natural R0 play out, the hospitals will collapse because there's not enough beds, not enough ventilators. So the strategy is to flatten the curve so that, for example, you have severe cases of 10 per day rather than a hundred or a thousand per day."

Prof Wang was one of four panellists who took part in Monday's discussion

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