Shopping during a pandemic
Shoppers must wear face masks and wash their hands regularly in order to stop the spread of Covid-19 and items touched by customers need to be quarantined, scientists say
Microbiologist Professor Bill Keevil, University of Southampton, said shop surfaces can harbour germs for days.
Cleanliness will be crucial for shops to be able to remain open without putting customers' lives at risk, he suggested.
Shops, department stores and shopping centres are expected to provide cleaning stations at the entrance and around the store.
Professor Keevil said businesses should consider putting clothing garments ' in quarantine' if somebody touches them in case the virus can survive on fabrics.
Stephen Baker, an infectious disease professor at University of Cambridge, said businesses may make it the rule that customers have to wear a face mask to enter.
Such measures, as well as closed changing rooms and toilets, will turn the shopping experience on its head.
Professor Keevil, who heads the Microbiology Group at University of Southampton and is a professor of environmental healthcare, told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: ' They (superbug bacteria and viruses) all can survive days on a touch surface, that may surprise people.
'That's why it's so important to wash hands and also regularly clean all touch surfaces.
'In terms of shops, when you go into a shop you're obviously careful about trolley handles, door handles, this kind of stuff, they should certainly be kept regularly clean.'
How long the virus can survive on surfaces depends on the material as well as the environment in the shop.
A study by US officials published in the New England Medical Journal detected the virus on plastic for up to three days. But another study from China, published in The Lancet, said the virus could last on plastic for up to seven days.
Both teams of researchers had left the virus particles at room temperature, which could represent thousands of items in a store - including coat hangers. The same differences were found for stainless steel, which may include door handles, rails and jewelry. No viable virus could be found on printing paper or tissue paper after three hours. However, the virus could be detected on paper money for up to four days.
Professor Keevil said: ' The issue is now coming down to things like clothes, fabrics. Should people touch them?
' If people have washed their hands properly, you might argue that there shouldn't be a transmission risk onto the fabrics.
'But people are now suggesting if you try on a garment and you don't want it, that garment should be put into quarantine for several days before it's then put back onto the shelves.'
Professor Keevil said there was a lack of evidence into how long viruses stayed on fabrics once touched. The same study published in the Lancet said no viable particles of SARS-CoV-2 was found that viable virus couldn't be recovered from cloth after two days. But a breakdown of materials like polyester, cotton or wool have not been studied.
A person can become infected with SARS- CoV- 2, the virus that causes COVID-19, when they touch their face after touching a contaminated surface. Some scientists say face masks can prevent this because the barrier restricts how often a person touches their face.
On the issue of face masks, Professor Baker, from the Department of Medicine at Cambridge, said: ' The Government might bring it in, but also then clothes shops... or places with confined areas may actually stipulate that to enter the premises you have to wear a face mask.
'It might just be a mechanism of reassuring people when they go into shops that they are not at risk.'
Ensuring good hygiene and cleaning will be a major part of the reopening plan, with provision of cleaning stations at the front of the store set to include hand sanitiser for customers.
Workers will also provide disinfectant wipes or spray and tissues for trolley and basket handles - as has been seen in supermarkets throughout the pandemic.
Employees will regularly clean key 'touch points' such as door handles, lift buttons, keypads and stair or escalator handrails.
Shoppers will see floor markings to help them comply with the two-metre social distancing rules.
Shops will consider keeping their changing rooms closed and demonstrate products like TVs and headphones instead of customers touching them.
Stores will be expected to store returned items for 72 hours before putting them back on the shop floor, and placing protective coverings on large items touched by the public such as beds or sofas.
Whether shops should take cash payments has not been discussed in the Government guidelines.
The UK Government has so far declined to bring forward any legislation to legally protect workers beyond the current health and safety laws.
Unions have been calling for changes to protect staff, but the PM has said businesses should use 'common sense'.