"The chance of the virus infecting people via contaminated clothes is extremely low," said Feng Zhaolu, a researcher with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), at a press briefing.  

As long as an individual has not been to places with high infection risk, such as visiting a patient in a hospital or having been exposed to people with typical symptoms of the epidemic, there is no need to specifically disinfect the clothes, according to Feng.  

Many people are also wondering whether they can disinfect their clothes by spraying alcohol onto them, which has been one of the most commonly used sterilization methods during the epidemic.  

"Although alcohol will not corrode ordinary clothes, it's a highly flammable item," Feng said. "When sprayed on clothes, it can easily catch fire in case of open flames, high temperature or static electricity. So it's not recommended to do so." 

Another frequently asked question is whether the virus will remain on hair and whether it is necessary to wash your hair every time after you go outside.

Feng said that generally speaking, people don't need to specifically wash or disinfect their hair after going outside. 

He said studies have shown that the coronavirus is quite sensitive to UV rays and high temperature. Therefore, the possibility of one's hair getting contaminated by droplets with a high concentration of the virus outdoors is very low, and people just need to maintain the regular cleaning of their hair.  

Neither can the virus transmit through the skin, according to Zhou Qi, academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences. 

"The virus mainly invades our body from mucous membranes, such as mouth, nose and eyes… So it's important to protect these parts," he said, adding that wearing masks properly could cut off the virus from entering one's body.

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