Make Your Home A Healthy Haven With These Disinfecting Tips

You’ve washed your hands several times, worn the face mask, too.  What else can you do at home as safety precaution against the spread of viruses?  We share these house cleaning tips for the general health of your home. 

Whether or not the threat of a virus is imminent, it is always best to be pro-active about protecting your home and your family.  Besides, a clean home benefits everyone that it hosts: your family, your friends, your home staff and your pets.

Singapore’s NEA released a guide for disinfecting homes that may have been exposed to the Wuhan 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV)  virus.  Here are their recommendations to prevent its further spread at home:

-        For homes that have been exposed to the Wuhan Coronavirus, avoid hosting visitors until the place has been sanitized.

-        Avoid sharing household items like dishes, utensils, towels and bedding.

-        Clean homes with windows open and wearing a face mask to avoid the harsh fumes from disinfectants

-        Do not touch face and eyes during the cleaning process

-        Mop with disinfectant.  Use a cloth soaked in disinfectant to wipe frequently touched surfaces: door knobs, keyboards, switch plates, toilet seats, flush handle.

-        Mattress, pillows, bedding used by someone suspected to have the virus should not be re-used.

-        Wear rubber gloves when collecting laundry of people who have been infected by a virus.

-        When clean-up of the home is completed, all the cloths, mops, wipes that have been used to clean should be put in double lined plastic bags and thrown away.

-        Wash hands with soap and water after cleaning the home.

-      When you remove your mask after cleaning, wash your hands again. Take a shower and change clothes immediately then air out the home again.

The Wuhan virus is believed to stay active from 6-12 hours. Laundry detergent should be able to clean the virus.  To make sure, you can add non-chlorine or oxygen bleach.

Disinfecting company, Lysol has also released its informational campaign in light of the Wuhan virus.  Read it here.

Similarly, read the release from Clorox here.

Note that in both releases, the companies have clearly stated that the products detailed in their sites “have demonstrated effectiveness against viruses similar to 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) on hard, nonporous surfaces. Therefore, these products can be used against 2019-nCoV when used in accordance with the directions for use against the virus listed for each product.”