New Delhi: “At this given point, cleaning the house on a daily basis is simply not enough to prevent transmission of coronavirus. At this stage, to prevent the infection, sanitization along with few precautions for maintaining basic hygiene is very important,” says Dr. Deepak Verma, Internal Medicine, Columbia Asia Hospital, Ghaziabad as he explains about how to disinfect one’s house and make it safe from coronavirus.
The first thing we all need to understand is that cleaning and disinfecting are two very different things. As per Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, one should do a little bit of both at this crucial time of the pandemic. Cleaning is all about removing contaminants from a surface, which we all do daily in our houses. Whereas, disinfecting means killing pathogens or viruses on the surfaces. Even during the lockdown, we come in touch with the outside world in some or the other way – when you going out to get groceries or essentials or when someone delivers those to your house. Remember the person delivering is coming from outside. And that’s where disinfecting and cleaning your house plays an important role.
This strain of the Coronavirus is known to survive on certain surfaces for days. Hence the role of disinfectants become important to keep the virus away.
Dr Deepak lists out the following key steps:
1. If you go out to buy anything, first and foremost, you should wipe or clean every item with sanitizer or soapy water. The main aim here is to clean anything coming from outside
2. Remove your shoes before entering the house, in fact, one should keep a separate pair of footwear for outside and for inside
3. Not just floors, clean high-touch surfaces (areas which are touched more in comparison to other areas) in the kitchen or washroom surfaces such as racks, basins, sinks at least twice a day. Use a diluted bleach product or those with an alcohol content of more than 70 per cent.
4. Most importantly, clean doorknobs, latches on doors and windows, switches, mobile phones and tabs twice a day with detergent-mixed water.
5. For cleaning surfaces, use a detergent or soap water and add a drop of any disinfectant
Dr. Meenakshi Jain, Associate Director, Internal Medicine, Max hospital Patparganj explaining the importance of cleaning and disinfecting one’s house said,
Daily routine dusting is not enough, we all should properly sanitise our house at this point of time. Most important are the doorknobs, locks, handles and things we touch daily like mobile, remotes, tabletops, tv panels and other surfaces. Just keep disinfecting wipes, which have alcohol content up to 70 per cent, handy with you. For cleaning, bleach or sodium hypochlorite can also be used.
Given that the country cannot be under lockdown forever and increasingly there is a belief that we may have to live with the Sars-Cov2 for a long time, experts recommend that taking necessary precautions like social distancing, maintaining personal hygiene, using masks and disinfecting our immediate surroundings is perhaps the only way to stay safe from the infection.
Katika hatua hii, kusafisha nyumba kila siku haitoshi kuzuia maambukizi ya coronavirus. Katika hatua hii, ili kuzuia maambukizi, sanitization pamoja na tahadhari chache za kudumisha usafi wa msingi ni muhimu sana, "Daktari Deepak Verma, Dawa ya Ndani, Hospitali ya Columbia Asia, Ghaziabad anasema wakati anaelezea jinsi ya kuua viini nyumbani na kuifanya iwe salama kutoka kwa coronavirus. Jambo la kwanza tunalopaswa kuelewa ni kwamba kusafisha na kuua viini ni mambo mawili tofauti sana. Kulingana na Kituo cha Kudhibiti na Kuzuia Magonjwa, mtu anapaswa kufanya kidogo ya zote mbili katika wakati huu muhimu wa janga hilo. Kusafisha ni kuondoa uchafuzi wa mazingira kutoka kwenye uso wa nyumba, na ni kazi ambayo kila mtu anafanya kila siku. Wakati, disinfecting ina maana ya kuua vimelea au virusi juu ya nyuso. Hata wakati wa kufungwa, tunakutana na ulimwengu wa nje kwa njia fulani au nyingine - wakati unapoenda nje kupata vyakula au vitu muhimu au wakati mtu anapopeleka hizo nyumbani kwako. Kumbuka mtu wa kutoa ni kuja kutoka nje. Na hapo ndipo kuua viini na kusafisha nyumba yako hutimiza fungu muhimu. Aina hii ya virusi vya Corona inajulikana kuishi kwenye nyuso fulani kwa siku nyingi. Kwa hiyo jukumu la dawa za kuua viini linakuwa muhimu ili kuzuia virusi hivyo viondoke. Dr. Deepak anaorodhesha hatua zifuatazo muhimu: 1. Ikiwa unataka kununua kitu, unapaswa kuifuta kwa maji ya sabuni. Lengo kuu hapa ni kusafisha chochote kinachokuja kutoka nje. Kuondoa viatu kabla ya kuingia ndani ya nyumba: Kwa kweli, mtu anapaswa kuweka jozi tofauti ya viatu kwa nje na ndani. Utakapoteza nafasi yako ya kuosha, fanya usafi wa nyuso za juu (sehemu ambazo zinaguswa zaidi ikilinganishwa na maeneo mengine) katika jikoni au bafu kama vile rafu, mabwawa, sinki angalau mara mbili kwa siku. Tumia bidhaa za bleach zilizopunguzwa au zile zenye kiwango cha pombe cha zaidi ya 70%. 4. Uwe na uhakika Kwa kawaida, mara mbili kwa siku, fanya kazi ya kusafisha milango, milango, madirisha, vifaa vya kuunganisha, simu za mkononi, na tabs na maji ya kuosha. 5. Uwe na mtazamo mzuri. "Kutumia sabuni, maji ya sabuni na dawa ya kuua viini, kama vile ""Dont Clean Your House"" na ""Safisha Nyumba yako"" ni njia nzuri ya kuondoa uchafu wa kawaida na kuondoa uchafu wa kawaida." Vitu muhimu zaidi ni kiganja cha mlango, kufuli, kushughulikia na vitu tunavyogusa kila siku kama simu, remote, tabletops, paneli za TV na nyuso zingine. Weka kamba za kuua viini, ambazo zina kiasi cha kileo cha asilimia 70 au zaidi, karibu na wewe. Kwa ajili ya kusafisha, bleach au sodium hypochlorite pia inaweza kutumika. "Kwa kuzingatia kwamba nchi haiwezi kuwa chini ya kufungwa milele na kuna imani inayoongezeka kwamba tunaweza kuishi na SARS-CoV-2 kwa muda mrefu, wataalamu wanapendekeza kuchukua tahadhari muhimu kama umbali wa kijamii, kudumisha usafi wa kibinafsi, kutumia vinyago na kuondoa maambukizi ya karibu, labda ndio njia pekee ya kukaa salama kutoka kwa maambukizo. """