Preventive measures

The most frequently asked questions about preventive measures against coronavirus infection

What are the symptoms of the disease caused by the new coronavirus?

The main symptoms are fatigue, shortness of breath, fever, cough, and/or sore throat.

Experts say the symptoms are similar to many respiratory illnesses, often mimicking the common cold, and may resemble the flu.

If you have similar symptoms, consider the following:

- Have you visited high-risk areas (countries with many cases of coronavirus infection) in the last two weeks?

- Have you been in contact with someone who has visited high-risk areas (countries with multiple cases of coronavirus infection) in the last two weeks?

If the answer to these questions is yes, the symptoms should be treated as carefully as possible.

How is the coronavirus transmitted?
Like other respiratory viruses, the coronavirus spreads through droplets that form when an infected person coughs or sneezes. It can also spread when someone touches any contaminated surface, such as a doorknob. People become infected when they touch their mouth, nose, or eyes with contaminated hands.

Can a new coronavirus be cured?

Yes, of course. However, there is no specific antiviral drug for the new coronavirus-just as there is no specific treatment for most other respiratory viruses that cause colds.

Viral pneumonia, the main and most dangerous complication of coronavirus infection, cannot be treated with antibiotics. If pneumonia develops, treatment is aimed at maintaining lung function.

What is the difference between a coronavirus and an influenza virus?

Coronavirus and influenza virus may have similar symptoms, but genetically they are completely different. Influenza viruses multiply very quickly - symptoms appear two to three days after infection, while the coronavirus takes up to 14 days.

How do I protect myself from contracting the coronavirus?

1. The most important thing you can do to protect yourself is to keep your hands and surfaces clean.

2. Keep your hands clean and wash them often with soap and water or use disinfectant. Also, try not to touch your mouth, nose or eyes with unwashed hands (we usually unknowingly do this an average of 15 times an hour). Carry hand sanitizer with you so you can clean your hands in any environment.

3. Always wash your hands before you eat.

4. Be especially careful when in crowded places, airports and other public transportation systems. Minimize touching surfaces and objects in such places as much as possible, and avoid touching your face.

5. Carry disposable wipes and always cover your nose and mouth when you cough or sneeze, and be sure to dispose of them after use.

6. Don't eat food (nuts, chips, cookies and other snacks) from shared packages or utensils if other people have dipped their fingers in them.

7. Avoid greeting handshakes and kisses on the cheek until the epidemiological situation has stabilized.

8. At work, regularly clean the surfaces and devices you touch (computer keyboards, shared office equipment panels, smartphone screens, remote controls, door handles and handrails).

How do I wear a medical mask correctly?

1. Gently cover your nose and mouth with the mask and secure it to reduce the gap between your face and the mask.

2. Do not touch the mask during use. Wash your hands after touching a used mask, such as to remove it.

3. After the mask becomes wet or soiled, put on a new clean, dry mask.

4. Do not reuse disposable masks. They should be discarded after each use and disposed of immediately after removal.

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During the epidemic of coronavirus infection, Rospotrebnadzor reminds parents of the nine main rules of preventive measures for children's health.

1. For the period of restrictive measures, it is necessary to exclude and, if this is not possible, to limit children's contacts as much as possible.

2. To minimize the risk of infection, it is better for children to stay at home. In doing so, it is necessary to ventilate the room regularly and wet clean it at least once a day with disinfectants. It is also important to disinfect objects and food packages immediately after bringing them home. 3.

3 It is necessary to completely exclude visiting any public places, including institutions, places of catering, trade, educational and recreational centers, etc.

4. The places of public use which should not be visited also include playgrounds in yards or parks. 5.

5. It is recommended to walk with children on their own garden plots and grounds that are in individual use. 6.

6. Visiting forest park areas is possible only if communication with other adults and children is excluded and if there are no other holidaymakers around.

7. Before being forced to leave the apartment it is necessary to explain to the child if possible, that outside the apartment it is impossible to touch the face and any objects with your hands: door handles, handrails and railings, walls, elevator buttons, etc.

8. After returning home it is necessary to treat your hands with disinfectant, take off your clothes, carefully wash your hands and other exposed skin areas with soap and water, paying special attention to your face, rinse your mouth, gently rinse your nose (not deeply).

9. Remember that in sufficient humidity and low temperature, the coronavirus may remain viable for a long time, up to 3 days or more. In some people, regardless of age, the virus may give a mild or obliterated form of the disease. These are the people who most often become the source of the disease.

Advice for people over 65

A new coronavirus infection is transmitted from a sick person to a healthy person through close contact: when a person sneezes or coughs near you, when droplets of mucus from the patient's mouth and nose get on surfaces you touch. People of "silver age" over the age of 60 are at special risk. It is in the elderly because of the strain on the immune system that complications are possible, including such dangerous ones as viral pneumonia. These complications can lead to the saddest outcomes. It is important to stay healthy!

1. Try to go out and about in public places less often. Take public transportation as little as possible, especially during rush hour. Reduce your visits to stores and shopping malls, service centers, and banks.

2. Ask your loved ones or social service workers to help you pay utility bills, buy groceries, or buy needed goods remotely.

If your loved ones have returned from abroad and are showing signs of a cold, limit your contact with them and urge them to seek medical help. Your wise advice will help to keep you and your family healthy!

4. Wash your hands often with soap and water, hygiene is very important for your health. Wash them after returning from the street, from public places, after contact with packages from stores, before cooking food. Don't touch your face, mouth, nose and eyes with dirty hands - that way the virus can enter your body.

5. Stock up on disposable paper tissues. Cover your mouth and nose with them when you cough or sneeze and throw the tissue away immediately after use.

6. Use wet wipes for disinfection. Wipe your bags, phones, books and other items that have been with you in public places and transport.

7. If you fall ill or feel unwell (not only for colds, but also for other health problems, such as blood pressure) - do not go to the clinic, and call the doctor at home.

8. If you fall ill with a cold, and among your loved ones have traveled abroad in the last two weeks, be sure to tell your doctor. He will prescribe a test for a new coronavirus infection.

Quarantine at home

During the difficult epidemiological situation Rospotrebnadzor specialists tell how to properly observe quarantine measures while at home. 

As is known, coronavirus infection is transmitted by airborne and also by contact. Citizens who have had contact with sick people or those who have returned from COVID-19 prone countries need to report their return to the regional headquarters to control the infection and observe quarantine at home for 14 days. If you were traveling with friends or family, you can be quarantined together for two weeks in the same room or apartment.

What does this mean?

1. not to leave the house during the entire quarantine period, even to get a package, buy groceries, or throw out the garbage;

2. to stay in a separate room if possible;

3. use separate utensils, personal hygiene products, linen and towels;

4. to buy food and necessary household goods remotely: online or with the help of volunteers;

5. Exclude contact with your family members or other persons;

6. use dysentery and personal protective equipment (mask, alcohol wipes).

Why 14 days?

Two weeks of quarantine correspond in length to the incubation period of coronavirus infection, the time when the disease can show its first symptoms.

What must be done during quarantine?

1. wash your hands with soap and water or treat them with skin antiseptics - before eating, before contact with mucous membranes of the eyes, mouth, nose, after using the toilet;

2. ventilate the room regularly and conduct wet cleaning using household chemicals with detergent or detergent-disinfecting effect.

What to do with the garbage?

Place household garbage in sturdy double trash bags, seal them tightly and take them outside the apartment. You can ask friends, acquaintances or volunteers to take the bags to garbage sites.

How do I keep in touch with my friends and family?

You can communicate with your friends and relatives by means of video and audio communication, via the Internet. Remember, the main condition of quarantine is not to leave home until it is over.

What to do if the first symptoms of the disease appear?

If you notice the first symptoms of COVID-19 you should immediately report it to the health center.

Who monitors those who are in quarantine? Are they tested for coronavirus?

Electronic and technical means can be used to monitor the quarantine population. Everyone in quarantine is medically monitored at home and their temperature is taken daily. On the 10th day of quarantine, doctors take samples for COVID-19 testing (nasal or oropharyngeal swabs).

How do I get sick leave during quarantine?

While you are under quarantine at home, you will be given a two-week sick leave of absence. You don't have to go to the clinic to get sick leave, you can order it over the phone and it will be delivered to your home.

What happens to people who do not follow or violate quarantine?

If a person violates quarantine, they will be admitted to an infectious disease hospital.

How do I know when quarantine is over?

Home quarantine ends after 14 days of isolation, if there are no signs of illness, and on the basis of a negative laboratory result of the material taken on the 10th day of quarantine.

Coronavirus: symptoms and preventive measures

Specialists of the State Budgetary Institution "The center of medical prevention in Magnitogorsk. Magnitogorsk" tell what it is necessary to know about coronavirus infection and how to protect yourself and others from a disease. 

Now it is known about circulation among the population of four coronaviruses which are year-round present in structure of ARVI, and, as a rule, cause defeat of the top respiratory ways of easy and average severity. The virus is most widespread in China. There have also been imported cases in Asia, North America and Europe (Thailand, Japan, Republic of Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Nepal, Taiwan, Singapore, Australia, USA, Canada, France, Germany).

The original source of infection has not been established. The first cases may have been associated with visits to a seafood market in Wuhan, China, where snakes, bats, poultry and other animals were sold. At present, the main source of infection is a sick person, including those in the incubation period of the disease. Paths of transmission: airborne (by coughing, sneezing, talking), airborne dust and contact.

Clinical features of coronavirus infection 

The incubation period is from two to 14 days. The infection is characterized by clinical symptoms of acute respiratory viral infection: fever, cough (dry or with small amounts of sputum), shortness of breath, fatigue, feeling of stuffiness in the chest. The most severe dyspnea develops on the sixth or eighth day after infection. It is also found that the first symptoms may be headaches, hemoptysis, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting.

In children, the features of the clinical picture of coronavirus infections are characterized by affecting both the upper and lower respiratory tracts. The main complaints are fever, runny nose, sore throat. The severity of symptoms varies from asymptomatic or mild respiratory symptoms to severe acute respiratory infection (SARS) with high fever, marked impairment of well-being to impaired consciousness, chills and sweating, head and muscle pain, dry cough, shortness of breath, rapid, difficult breathing and palpitations.

Prevention of coronavirus infection

Currently, specific prophylaxis against coronavirus infection is under development. Non-specific prophylaxis consists of measures aimed at preventing the spread of infection. They are carried out both against the source of infection - a sick person, the mechanism of transmission of the pathogen, and against a potentially susceptible contingent (protection of persons who are or have been in contact with the patient).

Measures with respect to the source of infection:

1. isolation of patients to the boxed rooms/rooms of the infectious hospital;

2. use of masks on patients, which should be changed every 2 hours;

3. transportation of patients by special transport;

4. observance of cough hygiene by patients;

5. the use of disposable medical instruments.

Measures aimed at the mechanism of transmission of the infectious agent:

1. hand washing;

2. the use of medical masks, overalls for medical workers;

3. carrying out disinfection measures, ensuring air disinfection;

4. disposal of class B waste.

Measures aimed at the susceptible population:

1. nasal cavity irrigation with isotonic sodium chloride solution (provides reduction of both viral and bacterial pathogens of infectious diseases);

2. use of medications for local application, having barrier functions;

3. timely application to medical institutions in case of symptoms of acute respiratory infection - one of the key factors in the prevention of complications.

Note that drug prophylaxis is indicated for all persons in contact with patients with confirmed or suspected infection. It is carried out in the first 48 hours after contact with a patient. The administration of drugs must be strictly according to the prescription of the physician and under his supervision. The timing is within the presumed incubation period (14 days) from the last contact with the source of infection.

Russian tourists traveling to the PRC should take the following precautions:

1. check the epidemiological situation when planning foreign trips;

2. Avoid visiting markets where animals and seafood are sold, as well as zoos and cultural events involving animals;

3. use only heat-treated food and bottled water;

4. use respiratory protection equipment (masks);

5. wash your hands after visiting crowded places and before eating;

6. At the first signs of illness seek medical help from medical organizations and never allow self-treatment;

7. when seeking medical assistance in the Russian Federation, inform medical personnel of the time and place of stay in the PRC.