People of all ages can be infected by the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Older and elderly people, and people with pre-existing medical conditions like asthma, diabetes, heart disease appear to be more vulnerable to becoming severely ill with this virus.
People of all ages to take steps to protect themselves from the virus, for example by following good hand hygiene and good respiratory hygiene. General Precautions include:
- Follow the culture of ‘Namaste’
- Practice hand-hygiene at all times
- Avoid close contact, with anyone showing symptoms of respiratory illness such as coughing and sneezing.
- Wear a mask if you have respiratory symptoms such as cough or runny nose
- Follow Respiratory Hygiene / Cough Etiquette
- Maintain safe food practices, i.e eat well-cooked food which has been prepared hygienically
- Avoid travel to farms, live animal markets or where animals are slaughtered
Cough Etiquettes - Practice frequent hand-hygiene at all times. Wash hands with soap and water or use 60-95% alcohol based hand-rub, preferably 70-80%).
- Keep at two arm’s length / Maintain a distance of a minimum of 6 feet from a person who is sneezing or coughing
- Cough or sneeze into the inside of elbow or arms, not hands
- Whenever possible, use disposable tissues to cover your cough and cold.
- Discard the used tissues immediately into an appropriate waste bin and practice hand-hygiene
- Offer a surgical mask to a person who is coughing or sneezing
