Home Notifications Newsletters Next Share

Photos show how people around the world are disinfecting schools, mosques, and streets to stop the coronavirus from spreadinghttps://www.businessinsider.in/slideshows/miscellaneous/photos-show-how-people-around-the-world-are-disinfecting-schools-mosques-and-streets-to-stop-the-coronavirus-from-spreading/slidelist/74528368.cms2020-03-07T18:42:42+05:30

Photos show how people around the world are disinfecting schools, mosques, and streets to stop the coronavirus from spreading

Mar 7, 2020, 18:42 IST

China has placed around 56 million people under quarantine. Public gatherings are banned, schools are shut down, and employees are working from home if possible.

In cities and towns across China, including Shanghai, Beijing, and Wuhan, sanitation workers have been sent to spray down all public areas. Trucks filled with low-concentration bleach-and-water solutions drive through the streets.

Workers wearing hazmat suits and face masks have swept through train stations, malls, and other destinations, wiping down surfaces to kill viral particles that might linger on them.

Scientists aren't yet sure how long droplets containing the virus can live on surfaces. According to the World Health Organization, "studies suggest that coronaviruses (including preliminary information on the COVID-19 virus) may persist on surfaces for a few hours or up to several days."

But sanitizing misters are probably not the most effective way to kill the virus, experts say. The coronavirus mainly travels person to person through saliva and mucus droplets, not through tiny particles in the air.

"I would rather see better efforts to make sure people are disinfecting emergency rooms and high-touch surfaces in hospitals and schools more than I would want to see bleach being sprayed on streets," Saskia Popescu, an infection-prevention epidemiologist, told Business Insider.

China also uses spray cannons similar to the ones used for disinfection to combat smog: Industrial misters can spray water droplets that trap and pull dust and pollution particles out of the air in smoggy areas.

Experts stress that basic public-health measures like washing your hands, avoiding touching your face, and staying away from sick people are the best ways to protect yourself.

Cases of coronavirus are spiking in South Korea: More than 6,500 people have been infected.

In South Korea, the virus has spread among a religious group called the Shincheonji Church of Jesus in the city of Daegu, the country's fourth-largest city.

Moon Jae-in, South Korea's president, said in a cabinet meeting on Tuesday that the "entire nation has entered a state of war against this infectious disease."

After the country's National Assembly met about its coronavirus response, a sanitation team disinfected the space.

Disinfectant products like hand sanitizer are selling out in South Korea, according to Reuters. With soaring demand for ethanol to produce more disinfectant, South Korean soju makers have donated the alcohol that typically goes into the drink.

Italy has reported more than 140 coronavirus deaths — the highest number outside of China. The two major outbreak zones are near Milan and Venice.

In Nigeria, an Italian man tested positive for coronavirus after arriving in Lagos from Milan on February 24. He was diagnosed three days later after developing symptoms. It was the first confirmed case of the coronavirus in sub-Saharan Africa.

Iran has over 4,700 coronavirus cases and 124 deaths — the second-highest number of deaths in countries outside China (after Italy).

Trucks filled with disinfectants are spraying down streets, shrines, public parks, trash bins, public toilets, and markets in Tehran and other areas with rising case totals, Reuters reported.

"The smell of disinfectants has become my nightmare," Ziba Rezaie, a 62-year-old retired teacher from Qom, Iran, told Reuters. "The city smells like a cemetery, a morgue."

Iran and Iraq share a border, and residents frequently cross for religious, medical, and business visits. Iraq has reported at least 40 cases.

The Iraqi government has closed the border with Iran. Authorities have also ordered schools, universities, theaters, restaurants, and other public places to shut down.

The virus is now in at least 90 countries other than China.

Some schools in Lebanon have closed as well.

The country of Georgia reported its first case of coronavirus on February 26. Georgian health minister Ekaterine Tikaradze said the citizen traveled to and from Iran.

Russia has stepped up sanitation efforts. It has also closed most entry points along its 4,200-kilometer border with China and temporarily banned Chinese citizens from entering the country.

Next Story Before and after photos show how coronavirus fear...

View All Latest