Sanitary towels, fruit, and bottles used as masks in desperate bid to avoid coronavirus
Plastic bottles, sanitary towels and a grapefruit are among the makeshift solutions people have created to protect themselves from coronavirus in China.
Hong Kong and parts of the mainland have been hit by shortages of face masks amid fears of the deadly virus, which scientists are still racing to understand.
Thousands of people desperately queued in front of stores to buy masks today in Hong Kong, where the government is making prisoners work around the clock to produce more.
Medical suppliers in the UK have reported a spike in demand for face masks, while a Welsh firm told the BBC it had sold its entire stock of 500 masks to a Chinese buyer in Leicestershire.
However, Public Health Wales has said there is ‘insufficient evidence’ to suggest there is any benefit of wearing a mask.
The disease can be passed from human to human, however it is unknown exactly how the pathogen spreads.
Similar viruses tend to spread via ‘respiratory droplets’ released when carriers cough or sneeze, causing many to wear masks to protect from the bacteria.
Health experts say only a properly used N95 respirator mask certified by an independent agency can safeguard against the virus.
However, such masks are only efficient if fitted properly and aren’t reliable when used on children or adults with facial hair.
But the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that even a properly-fitted N95 mask’s effectiveness is uncertain in social situations.
Regular surgical masks also don’t fully seal off the nose and mouth from airborne droplets.
However, some of the makeshift solutions may help by preventing people from touching their nose, mouth and eyes after they have touched contaminated surfaces.
Paper or foam masks or homemade alternatives don’t necessarily block small droplets, which can travel further and in unpredictable paths which can be inhaled around the sides of the masks.
A Beijing retailer has seen a 10-fold increase in orders of special masks for dogs after China’s top virus expert warned that pets could be infected.
The WHO says it has not seen any evidence of the coronavirus being passed onto dogs or cats.
What is the coronavirus and where did it start?
Coronaviruses are a family of diseases which include the common cold and the virus which caused Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which originated in China in 2002 and killed nearly 800 people around the world.
The virus causing concern now is a new strain which has made the jump from animals to people.
It causes flu-like symptoms and can make it hard for people to breathe, causing viral pneumonia in severe cases.
Over 100 people worldwide have now died after contracting the illness.
The virus is more likely to progress into a severe illness or prove fatal among older patients or those with weakened immune systems.
As it is a viral illness, antibiotics will not help and there is no known cure or vaccine.
What are the symptoms of the virus? .
The Foreign Office has warned against all but essential travel to mainland China, and British Airways has subsequently suspended flights there.
They have not advised against travel to Thailand and Japan, which have both seen cases of the virus, but warned there are enhanced quarantine procedures at entry points to Japan such as airports and ports.
If you’re booked onto a flight with BA and are scheduled to fly between January 26 – February 23, you can request a refund.
In order to do this, get in touch with them directly through the BA website.
They also offer the option to rebook to the same destination, although it is not known when flights to mainland China will resume.
Can I get a refund on my BA flights?
Is it safe to travel to Thailand?
Is it safe to travel to Japan as the coronavirus spreads?
To avoid the illness, take usual hygiene precautions, such as using a tissue to cover coughs and sneezes, and making sure to wash your hands.
Do not touch your eyes, nose or mouth after touching things like poles on public transport and avoid close contact with people suffering an acute respiratory infection.
You should also avoid unprotected contact with wild or farm animals.
So far, no cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the UK.
Almost 100 people have been tested for it here, with all of the tests coming back negative.
How many people in the UK have it?
The virus originated in the city of Wuhan in China, where it is believed to have made the jump from animals to people at a seafood market.
Wuhan is the capital of China’s Hubei province, a landlocked province in central China.
It is built along the Yangtze river, and is around 500 miles west of Shanghai and 690 miles north of Hong Kong.
It is the largest and most populous city in central China, although estimates over its population vary.
Got a story for Metro.co.uk?
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. For more stories like this, check our news page.