What are 5 preventive measures that the government came up with to reduce the spread of the virus?

As well as maintaining good general health, there are some basic actions that everyone can take to stop the spread of infectious diseases:

Table of Contents Show

Immunise against infectious diseases
Influenza – the flu
If you are at higher risk or travelling overseas
Wash your hands well
When to wash
Stay at home if you're sick
Unwell child?
Cover coughs and sneezes
Keep household surfaces clean
Ventilate your home
Prepare food safely
Practise safe sex
Standard precautions
Hand hygiene
Personal protective equipment (PPE)
Environmental control
Transmission-based precautions

Immunise against infectious diseases

Immunisation is a way of preventing infectious diseases. Immunisations are offered to babies, children and adults to protect against serious and preventable diseases. Find out more about getting immunised.

It is important to ensure you are up to date with your immunisations. Check with your doctor or nurse to see if you have had all your immunisations. Are your immunisations up to date?

To read the list of free immunisations and the ages at which they’re recommended check the National Immunisation Schedule.

Influenza – the flu

Influenza is a serious disease that can cause severe illness in some people – it is worse than a cold. Influenza spreads quickly from person to person through touch as well as through the air.

Immunisation is your best defence against influenza. Influenza viruses change from year-to-year, so the seasonal influenza vaccine is made especially each year to cover the strains of the virus most likely to be circulating the following winter.

Because of this, it is important to have an influenza vaccination each year – it is available from mid to late March until 31 December – but it is recommended before winter.

For pregnant women, those aged 65 years and over and those with certain medical conditions, the vaccine is free. Talk to your doctor or nurse to see if you are eligible for a funded influenza vaccine. Some workplaces may also provide influenza vaccinations for staff.

Read about influenza symptoms and treatments.

If you are at higher risk or travelling overseas

There are some extra vaccines that aren’t usually free but are worth considering to make sure you are protected. Some of these are free for those at higher risk of disease.

Talk to your doctor about whether protection from these diseases is a good idea for you.

If going overseas, ask your doctor or a travel doctor whether you need any special immunisations. Read more about what to check in the section on Travelling.

Wash your hands well

Washing hands properly is one of the most important and effective ways of stopping the spread of infections and illnesses.

Wash your hands thoroughly using water and plain soap.
Wash for at least 20 seconds and dry them completely.
Using warm water is preferable, if available.

If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitiser.

When to wash

Always wash and dry your hands:

before eating or preparing food
after:
- sneezing, coughing or blowing your nose (or wiping children’s or other people’s noses)
- gardening or outside activities
- having contact with animals
- using the toilet or changing nappies
- looking after sick people.

Read the steps to good hand washing
Useful tips – Health Navigator website

Stay at home if you're sick

It's important that if you're unwell you stay at home to stop the spread of the infection to others.

Keep your distance (at least 1 metre away) from other members of your household to stop them from getting ill as well.

An information sheet on common infectious diseases, how they are spread and signs and symptoms is available on the HealthEd website.

Factsheets and advice on common viruses and infections are available in the A to Z section of Diseases and illnesses.

Unwell child?

Read more about common childhood illnesses and when to keep your child away from school: School exclusions.

If you are concerned about your or your child's health, contact your doctor or Healthline freephone 0800 611 116.

Cover coughs and sneezes

Some infectious diseases can be transferred in the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Examples include influenza, measles and chicken pox.

If you are unwell, avoid close contact with other people. Cover your coughs and sneezes to stop spreading the illness to other people.

Keep household surfaces clean

Some infectious diseases can be spread by touching a surface or object that has been contaminated by an infected person.

Regularly cleaning household surfaces that are frequently touched will help reduce the spread of infections. Some examples of frequently used surfaces include tables, bench tops, door handles, light switches, toys and taps.

Clean surfaces with hot soapy water or your normal household cleaning product. Always follow the manufacturer’s instructions on correct product use.

Where possible, use disposable cloths or paper towels to clean surfaces. Reusable cloths should be disinfected and then dried after use, as bacteria and viruses can still survive on damp cloths.

Practical tips are listed on the National Health Service website: How to prevent germs from spreading.

Ventilate your home

Poor ventilation in rooms can increase the spread of infectious diseases. Open windows regularly to get fresh air circulating.

If you have air conditioning or a heat pump, make sure the system is maintained and the filters cleaned.

Prepare food safely

It is important that you prepare, cook and store food safely.

The Ministry for Primary Industries website has guides on:

Read more information about some Food- and water-borne diseases.

Practise safe sex

For protection against sexually transmissible infections (STIs), you should always use a condom. Read more about preventing the spread of STIs at Safer sex and condoms.

A list of resources and sexual health topics are listed in the section Sexual health section.

•Standard precautions are the work practices required to achieve a basic level of infection prevention and control.
•Standard precautions are the minimum infection prevention and control practices that must be used at all times for all patients in all situations.
•Transmission-based precautions are used when standard precautions alone are not sufficient to prevent the spread of an infectious agent.
•Transmission-based precautions are based upon the mode of transmission of the infectious agent.

Infection prevention and control uses a risk management approach to minimise or prevent the transmission of infection. The two-tiered approach of standard and transmission-based precautions provides a high level of protection to patients, healthcare workers and other people in healthcare settings.

For further information regarding infection prevention and control practices in the healthcare setting see the National Health and Medical Research (NHMRC) Australian guidelines for the prevention and control of infection in healthcare (2010) .

The use of standard precautions is also applicable to and essential for many non-health care settings, such as personal care and body art industries. For further information regarding infection prevention and control guidelines for these industries see the department's Health guidelines for personal care and body art industries.

Standard precautions

All people potentially harbour infectious microorganisms. As such, it must be assumed that all blood and body fluids/substances are potentially infectious. Standard precautions are the work practices required to achieve a basic level of infection prevention and control. The use of standard precautions aims to minimise, and where possible, eliminate the risk of transmission of infection, particularly those caused by blood borne viruses.

Standard precautions apply to all patients regardless of their diagnosis or presumed infection status. Standard precautions must be used in the handling of:

blood (including dried blood)
all other body fluids/substances (except sweat), regardless of whether they contain visible blood
non-intact skin
mucous membranes.

Standard precautions consist of the following practices:

hand hygiene before and after all patient contact
the use of personal protective equipment, which may include gloves, impermeable gowns, plastic aprons, masks, face shields and eye protection
the safe use and disposal of sharps
the use of aseptic "non-touch" technique for all invasive procedures, including appropriate use of skin disinfectants
reprocessing of reusable instruments and equipment
routine environmental cleaning
waste management
respiratory hygiene and cough etiquette
appropriate handling of linen.

Standard precautions are the minimum infection prevention and control practices that must be used at all times for all patients in all situations.

Hand hygiene

Hand hygiene is considered one of the most important infection control measures for reducing the spread of infection. Hand hygiene is a general term that refers to any action of hand cleansing, such as handwashing or handrubbing.

Microorganisms are either present on hands most of the time (resident flora) or acquired during healthcare activities (transient flora). The aim of hand hygiene is to reduce the number of microorganisms on your hands, particularly transient flora which may present the greater risk for infection transmission.

Handwashing: Hands should be washed with soap and water when visibly soiled and after using the toilet.

Handrubbing: Handrubbing with an alcohol-based hand rub (ABHR) is the preferred method for hand cleansing in the healthcare setting when hands are not visibly soiled. ABHRs are more effective against most bacteria and many viruses than either medicated or non-medicated soaps. ABHRs are also less drying on hands than washing hands with soap and water, and consequently cause less irritation to the skin. ABHRs should be applied to dry hands.

The 5 Moments for hand hygiene, or times when hand hygiene should be attended to, was developed by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The 5 moments are:

before touching a client
before performing a procedure
after a procedure or exposure to body fluids/substances
after touching a client
after touching the environment around a client.

See Hand Hygiene Australia for more information on hand hygiene and for ‘How to handwash’ and ‘How to handrub’ posters.

Personal protective equipment (PPE)

PPE protects the healthcare worker from exposure to blood and body fluids/substances. PPE that complies with relevant Australian Standards should be readily available and accessible in all health services.

Gloves

The use of gloves should not be considered an alternative to performing hand hygiene. Hand hygiene is required before putting on gloves and immediately after removal.
Wear gloves (single-use non-sterile) when there is the potential for contact with blood, body fluids/substances, mucous membranes or non-intact skin.
Sterile gloves are only required for certain invasive procedures, otherwise non-sterile gloves may be used if a aseptic non-touch technique is used.
Change gloves between tasks and procedures on the same patient. Gloves should be removed immediately after a procedure and hand hygiene performed so as to avoid contaminating the environment, other
patients or other sites on the same patient.
Gloves used for healthcare activities are to be single-use only. ABHR should not be used on gloves to decontaminate them, nor should gloves be washed with soap and water and continued to be used.

Gowns and aprons

Wear an apron or gown to protect skin and prevent soiling of clothing during procedures and patient care activities that are likely to generate splashing or sprays of blood, body fluids, secretions or excretions, or cause soiling of clothing.
Select a gown or apron (i.e., long or short sleeves) that is appropriate for the activity and the amount of fluid likely to be encountered. If an apron is used, staff should ensure they are “bare-below-the-elbows”.
Remove the used gown as promptly as possible and roll it up carefully and discard appropriately.
Perform hand hygiene immediately after removal.

Masks, eye protection, face shields

Wear a mask and eye protection, or a face shield to protect mucous membranes of the eyes, nose and mouth during procedures, patient-care activities and cleaning procedures that are likely to generate splashes or sprays of blood, body fluids, secretions and excretions.
Remove the mask by holding the ties only and dispose of the mask into a waste bin.
Perform hand hygiene immediately after removal.

Environmental control

Ensure that the health service has adequate procedures for the routine care, cleaning and disinfection of environmental surfaces, beds, bedrails, bedside equipment and other frequently touched surfaces, and that these procedures are being followed. See also Cleaning and waste disposal for further information.

Transmission-based precautions

Transmission-based precautions (TBPs) are used in addition to standard precautions when standard precautions alone may be insufficient to prevent transmission of infection. TBPs are used for patients known or suspected to be infected or colonised with epidemiologically important or highly transmissible pathogens that can transmit or cause infection.TBPs are not required for patients with bloodborne viruses, such as HIV, hepatitis B virus or hepatitis C virus.

The type of TBPs applied is based upon the mode of transmission of the pathogen. For diseases that have multiple routes of transmission, more than one TBP category is applied. The following are the routes of transmission.

airborne transmission, e.g. pulmonary tuberculosis, chickenpox, measles
droplet transmission, e.g. influenza, pertussis (whooping cough), rubella
contact transmission (direct or indirect), e.g. viral gastroenteritis, Clostridium difficile, MRSA, scabies

TBPs should be tailored to the particular infectious agent involved and the mode of transmission.To minimise the exposure time of other people in office-based practices or hospital waiting rooms, people identified as at risk of transmitting droplet or airborne diseases (for example, a child with suspected chickenpox) should be attended to immediately and placed into appropriate transmission-based precautions to prevent further spread of disease.

Table 1 outlines the TBPs to be taken for infections with airborne, droplet or contact transmission.

Table 1: Transmission-based precautions required according to route of transmission

Infection control measure	Route of transmission
Airborne	Droplet	Contact
Gloves	As per standard precautions	As per standard precautions	For all manual contact with patient, associated devices and immediate environmental surfaces
Impermeable apron/gown	As per standard precautions	As per standard precautions	When healthcare worker's clothing is in substantial contact with the patient, items in contact with the patient, and their immediate environment
P2 Respirator Refer to AS/NZS 1715 for additional information	Yes	Not required	Not required
Mask (surgical-style) Refer to AS 4381:2015 for additional information	No (P2 respirator)	Yes	As per standard precautions
Goggles/face shields	As per standard precautions	As per standard precautions	As per standard precautions
Standard single room with own ensuite	No (negative pressure ventilation required)	Yes or cohort patients with same infection Door closed	Yes or cohort patients with same infection
Negative pressure ventilation room	Essential	Not required	Not required

For information on infection prevention and control precautions required for carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) see the Victorian guideline on CPE for health services (2017) or Victorian guideline on CPE for long-term residential care facilities (2017).

For information on infection prevention and control precautions for other multi-resistant organisms see the Patient-centred risk management strategy for multi-resistant organisms (2011).

For more information regarding which other infectious agents require transmission-based precautions, see the NHMRC Australian guidelines for the prevention and control of infection in healthcare (2010) .

Signage

Signage should be positioned prominently outside the room of a patient in TBPs. This is to ensure staff and visitors do not enter without appropriate PPE. Note: visitors may not always be required to wear PPE when visiting patients in TBPs. Please consult local health service policies and procedures.

Standardised TBPs signage has been developed by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care and are available in portrait style or landscape style.

If a health service uses their own signage, ensure that signage clearly notes the type of TBPs and PPE required.

Reviewed 24 October 2021