to the face must actually work I'm most
worried about the elderly and children
who's most at risk what will happen if I
catch a corona virus we've been told to
wash our hands but what else can we do
to protect ourselves so that gives you
an idea of the kinds of things people
want to be answered let's start with
that last one first perhaps how can we
protect ourselves okay number one is
hand hygiene good old soap and water and
it's not just a quick dangle under the
tap you've got to get a good lather
going think about singing two verses of
happy birthdays loads of guides online
to how you should wash your hands if
you're not near soap and water then you
could use some hand sanitizer but the
key here is got to be alcohol-based in
order to kill the coronavirus other
thing is don't when you're out and about
touch your we all do it your face nose
and eyes because you can pick up the
virus from surfaces and infect yourself
that way so it's getting out of those
kinds of habits coughing into tissues
that kind of thing
absolutely and what about face masks we
heard from Danny the barber there you
have one here how effective are they
okay these little paper face masks
aren't really much good they may give a
full sense of security
leave them I would suggest to the
medical staff because there needs to be
changed frequently they are quite good
at preventing someone with an infection
from passing it on that's traditionally
how they've been used but those people
ralina should be staying at home and
that question of who's at risk are some
people more vulnerable than others what
anyone can catch it the good news is
young children are really pretty much in
the clear on this virus in fact so far
of the reported cases only two out of a
hundred have been in people under 20
years of age most at risk are the
elderly the older you are the greater
your risk and those with underlying
health problems things like heart
disease respiratory disease and diabetes
but this is an indiscriminate virus it
can kill young people as well one of the
first to die was a doctor in China who
first raised the alarm about it he was
34 a question from Peter on Twitter
now how does that how long does the
virus live on surfaces such as mail food
and packaging and what's the risk from
things like that okay there's very
little evidence and that there's any
risk from getting post from Italy or
China where the virus could last there
it can survive on on hard surfaces for
quite a few hours Deborah's also got in
touch she's on Twitter she says is it
possible to be a carrier of the virus
but to not actually display the symptoms
yes it is these carriers and there's
quite a lot of reported cases here they
can be potentially shedding the virus
and potentially infecting other people
but those who are giving off the most
virus are the most sick because you know
they're coughing and sneezing and that's
why health care workers are at
particular risk hi I'm Sophie I'm from
Manchester how protect our children from
coronavirus and we'll schools be closing
I'm chase I'm from the United States and
I'm wondering if someone was working on
a cure for the corona virus and if so
how long it'll take to get to us
well thanks let's talk about children
first of all are they particularly
vulnerable should we be closing schools
they don't seem to be particularly
vulnerable but children are very good at
spreading germs about and school
closures are always the first thing that
public health officials turn to because
they tend to bring the bugs home with
them and give them to more vulnerable
people so what's the children in that
case and what about that question about
a cure and perhaps we will just also
want to talk about a vaccine what
treatment shown is there and how close
are we this is a very new disease and so
at the moment there are many groups of
scientists working on both production of
a vaccine and on which antivirals might
be the most effective in terms of the
vaccine that takes time so it won't be
for about a year and that'll be pretty
quick if it comes then so it mustn't
rely on a vaccine in terms of the use of
antiviral drugs they have been used in
other viral diseases and work is ongoing
at the current time but again any new
development takes time and in fact in
some cases people will get better
without any medical dwell 80% of people
get better without it with that sort of
treatment it is important to point out
question from Paul he says why have we
not set up checkpoints at airports to
test for the virus in some countries you
see those thermal imaging as well
those thermal imaging cameras aren't
necessarily the answer because a recent
study found they're about 10% effective
in detecting a fever and the other
important factor is that you will have
probably untested a port of exit you
won't have a temperature as you come
into the country so it's much more
effective to have the system that we
have which is flights from high-risk
areas are met and get people given
information about one one one and self
isolation and a question here on social
distancing from Claire on Twitter she
asks should I be wearing gloves when I
go out or I'm around other people
well gloves might help and unless you
then suddenly touch your face you'll be
passing on maybe a whole load of germs
that way really social distancing we
maybe ought to start thinking about not
shaking hands anymore
the French have advised the French
citizens not to kiss on the cheek so
maybe we should all be careful about
it'll be kiss and my friend from China
said to do this rather the elbow pump
yeah new ways of social interaction
Christensen so let's try and fly through
a few more lots of people are asking
about whether you're more susceptible if
you have asthma or HIV what do we know
about that and people with suppressed
immune systems okay so suppress immune
systems definitely ask me yes no
knowledge of whether people with HIV are
at any greater risk and Sean this one
this is from psy on Twitter he says how
do I tell the difference between a
common cold and coronavirus through the
test probably unless your symptoms go on
to develop into chest disease and then
you're more likely to have corona virus
but sniffle isn't normally associated
with corona virus are the symptoms and
little bit more is that the symptoms are
tend to be fever shortness of breath and
and a cough so and a cold may not we'll
probably have a brownie and notice than
that
but it's not foolproof and that's why
the tests are being done there's a whole
lot of testing being done through GPS
and hospitals at the moment by public
health England to see if we're missing
any cases