Infectious gatherings

sir – The article (February 11) by Paul Nuki, your global health security editor, on measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus is a useful start point for government planning. But there is also a need to ban large assemblies.

These should include football and other sports events, theatres, cinemas, concerts both indoors and outdoors, and any gathering where air is recirculated – such as in modern offices, on trains and in airliners.

Peter Fellows

Bradford, West Yorkshire

sir – As a retired GP I have undertaken several preventive measures for my family, which includes two people in high-risk groups: a newly born grandchild and an isolated relative in her nineties.

I have ensured that we all have access to hand sanitisers and tissues. We have stocked my elderly relative up with supplies of long-life milk and tins of soup. I always use hand sanitiser after shaking hands and after touching switches, handles or buttons.

My advice is to keep clean, use sensible precautions and keep away from people with acute respiratory symptoms. To avoid further spread of infection those individuals with acute respiratory symptoms should adopt self-isolation and hygiene measures, keeping away from public places until they are risk-free.

Dr Robert Mckinty

Darlington, Co Durham

sir – I am irritated by the BBC and other broadcasters referring to Wuhan in China as the “epicentre” of the coronavirus outbreak.

Epi- is a Greek prefix meaning “above” and is used frequently to describe a location on the Earth’s surface that is above an earthquake.

Wuhan is the centre, not the epicentre, of the virus.

Foxton, Leicestershire