A leading immunologist has encouraged people to introduce plants, bowls of water and humidifiers into their homes to try to stop the spread of Covid-19.
Professor Luke O'Neill said that keeping air moist leads to increased mucous production, which in turn can help reduce the spread of the virus.
“When your nose dries out, or your upper airway dries out, you make less mucous, the stuff that you know makes you sniffle and so on,” he said.
“Mucous is a really good way to get rid of viruses because it traps the virus and then you cough it out.
“In keeping the airway moist if you will, and your nose moist, the virus slips - if you know what I mean - and can’t get in.
“So therefore if you’re in a room and your nose is drying out, the virus loves that and will get into your body much more so again, just keeping that moisture level up.”
Nphet meeting
It comes as the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) is meeting this morning to assess the impact following a full week of Level 5 restrictions.
For the first time in over a week, the national 14-day incidence rate of the virus has dropped below 300 per 100,000 population.
318 people with Covid-19 are currently being treated in hospitals for the virus this morning, with 40 patients in intensive care.
Infectious disease expert Dr Eoghan De Barra has said that it is too early to consider lifting restrictions.
“The point of a lockdown is just to gain some level of control and to allow the hospitals not to become overwhelmed,” he said.
“The hospitals are going to continue to see cases even if we see the community numbers fall because this disease typically takes 10 to 14 days for people to become sick enough to require hospital.
“So I think we need to see the community numbers fall consistently for that period of time and to know that the pressure on the hospitals was easing.”
