Dr. Cillian De Gascun:

The specific decisions on that and the job of putting plans in place will be up to the relevant Departments. The advice on cleaning is that it depends on the footfall of a workplace. Notwithstanding the conversation we are having, this virus will not jump off a surface and infect somebody. One will need to touch it, contact it and then touch one's face, nose or mouth. People need to take responsibility themselves when it comes to practising good hand hygiene, avoiding touching their faces and avoiding their masks if they are wearing one. In the context of cleaning, this virus is not necessarily particularly robust. I imagine that the standard detergents that are used for cleaning will be successful in killing it. We should look at instituting a more regular cleaning regimen. If that is in a school, one would imagine that could involve a clean at the end of the day, just before the students come in the following day. It is important for me to qualify this by pointing out that this is not my area of expertise but if one wants to ensure the virus is not on a surface the following day in a school setting, then the surfaces that are commonly touched should be cleaned down at the end of the day and in advance of the students presenting the following morning. On public transport, I imagine it comes down to individual responsibility at passenger level but I imagine that a routine clean on a daily basis for the commonly touched surfaces would be beneficial. I do not know if we will ever be able to eliminate risk completely, which is why individuals have to take a certain amount of responsibility in practising good hand hygiene and in ensuring they do not touch their faces or masks if they are using one.