Coronaviruses occur in humans and also in mammals and birds. In humans, they cause gastro-intestinal diseases and flu-like illnesses up to and including pneumonia. Coronaviruses are enveloped lipid-containing viruses. The group of coronaviruses includes the SARS virus that caused epidemics in 2003 and MERS-CoV, which resulted in 38 deaths in the Middle East in 2012/13.
More than 175 million Covid-19 cases have been confirmed worldwide since December 2019. The WHO speaks of a pandemic.
Studies show that infectious virus can be isolated from the throat and lungs. No infectious viruses are detected in stool, urine and blood.
This confirms the assumption that the main transmission route is droplet infection and aerosol transmission. Further transmissions can also occur via contaminated objects (smear infection).
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019
Therefore, besides personal hygiene rules and keeping distance, hand and surface disinfection are the most important disinfection measures.
Hygiene tips for preventing infection in everyday life (e.g. with coronaviruses, cold viruses or flu viruses):
Wash your hands with soap for 20 to 30 seconds many times each day.
Avoid touching the mucous membranes of your mouth, nose and eyes.
Keep your distance from other people when coughing.
Ideally, cough and sneeze into the crook of your elbow.
Always use disposable tissues, then dispose of them and wash your hands immediately afterwards.
Ventilate rooms for around ten minutes three to four times every day.
Refrain from shaking hands, hugging and kissing people as you greet them.
According to the RKI (Robert Koch Institut), disinfectants with proven 'virucidal activity against enveloped viruses', 'limited-spectrum virucidal activity' or 'virucidal activity' are effective against coronaviruses and should be used to combat them. When using the products, you should therefore ensure that the application conditions for 'virucidal activity against enveloped viruses' are chosen as a minimum. Dr. Weigert disinfectants have been proven to be suitably effective and can therefore be used.
Hand hygiene measures are among the most important infection prevention measures, because the hands are among the most frequent routes for transmitting pathogens.
https://www.who.int/infection-prevention/publications/hh_evidence/en/
For thorough hand hygiene, Dr. Weigert offers the following disinfectants:
Surface disinfection is an important measure for preventing the transmission of pathogens via surfaces that frequently come into contact with hands or skin (e.g. door handles). Besides the hands, indirect transmission of the coronavirus via contaminated surfaces in a clinical environment must also be considered according to the RKI.
https://www.krankenhaushygiene.de/Nutzerdaten/File/empfehlungen/2010_rki_cleaning.pdf
For surface disinfection, Dr. Weigert offers the following disinfectants:
The reprocessing of medical instruments plays an important part in everyday clinical routines to prevent nosocomial infections. When treating patients demonstrably infected with the coronavirus, the RKI recommends using instruments specific to the individual for direct contact (e.g. ECG electrodes, stethoscopes). Furthermore, reprocessing in accordance with the requirements of the recommendation by the Commission for Hospital Hygiene and Infection Prevention and the German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices is sufficiently effective.
For instrument disinfection, Dr. Weigert offers the following disinfectants:
When using the products, at least the application conditions for activity against enveloped viruses have to be selected!
Up-to-date information can be found under the following links of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC):
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019
https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/novel-coronavirus-china
Further useful links
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html
It is generally recommended that the general rules of hygiene are observed, including hand hygiene, proper coughing and sneezing:
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public
It is also recommended to keep a minimum distance (at least 1.5 m) from other people and to wear mouth and nose protection where necessary.
The required measures may different from region to region.
Below, you will find some information and materials on the topic of disinfection that may also be useful in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Our tutorial for hygienic hand disinfection in six steps. Proper hand hygiene protects against infection and prevents the transmission of pathogens such as the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. For reliable hand-disinfection, it is necessary to keep your hands moist with the disinfectant for at least 30 seconds.
Suitable for printing and putting on display at your company premises. On this poster, we show the six steps of hygienic hand disinfection (standard rubbing method in accordance with EN 1500).
6-Steps-of-Hygienic-Hand-Disinfection.pdf
(PDF file - 462 KB)
