Coronavirus: Government devises plan to stop people touching their faces

Government ministers have been advised on how to successfully ensure people adopt policies like not touching their face, amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak in the UK.

The continued rise in Covid-19 cases has prompted a raft of advice from the government, Public Health England and the NHS on how to slow the virus spread.

It includes washing your hands more frequently, coughing or sneezing into a tissue and then putting it in the bin, and - crucially - not touching your face.

The Behavioural Insights Team, a company part-owned by the Cabinet Office, has shared a blogpost online of the advice it is giving ministers around face touching.

It’s something people are thought to do more than 15 times an hour on average. Even in intensive care units studies have observed healthcare workers touching their face around five times an hour.

It says: “The issue is that much of this face touching is likely to be outside our conscious control.”

And says that many people will not have “mental models” for stopping face touching, unlike hand washing where we can watch other humans demonstrate.

It recommends that the government instead suggest “substitute behaviours” so instead of touching your face with your hands, try instead with the back of your wrist or arm as this is less likely to have been exposed to infection than your fingers.

But if you are touching your face in an “unprompted way” (e.g. not in response to an itch or a sneeze) and more as an unconscious habit then you’ll need to try different tactics.

The BIT recommends getting members of your family or friends to say “face” or similar every time you touch your face as a type of social reinforcement.

Alternatively it recommends keeping your hands in your pockets, holding your hands together or folding your arms in a “locked way” (grabbing the opposing bicep).

It also suggests developing alternative habits such as drumming your fingers on your legs or playing with a ball.

For many people picking up a habit like washing your hands for longer (20 seconds or as long as it takes to sing Happy Birthday twice) is fairly simple – but changing a subconscious habit like touching your face is proving much harder.

Staff with the Behavioural Insights Team are continuing to test these messages to see which has the biggest impact on population behaviour.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson advised on Monday that social distancing was going to become a bigger priority for the UK as he advised people to work from home and not do any non-essential travel. This includes not socialising, visiting pubs, bars, restaurants or theatres.

In London, pubs, restaurants, cinemas, gyms and leisure centres in London will be told later today that they must close their doors to slow the spread of the virus.