‘Eat in your room, keep door shut’: Sheffield Uni issues stark coronavirus quarantine guide

Eating in solitary confinement and drawing up a bathroom rota are among the new dramatic quarantine measures issued by the University of Sheffield to fend off coronavirus.

Students at the Russell Group institution who have recently returned from China have been told to enter isolation for 14 days.

Bosses have ordered the rule on anyone who has visited Hubei province, where an outbreak of the deadly illness began, in the last fortnight.

It comes as the Foreign Office told all 30,000 Britons currently in the country to leave on Tuesday.

This morning all students were emailed fresh guidelines for if they are having to remain locked in their accommodation.

“If you share a bathroom, draw up a rota for washing or bathing, with the isolated person using the facilities last, before thoroughly cleaning the bathroom themselves (if able or appropriate),” the message tells students.

“Ensure the isolated person uses separate towels from others, both for drying themselves after bathing or showering and for hand hygiene purposes.”

Confirmed coronavirus cases have now reached more than 20,000 worldwide and claimed 427 lives.

However, so far only two diagnoses have been recorded in Britain, one of them a York University student.

The institution, citing Public Health England (PHE) guidelines, also warns students: “You should stay in your room with the door closed, only coming out when necessary, wearing a facemask [sic] if you have one,” and to avoid sharing kitchens, bathrooms or household items.

In a drastic ramping up of measures to combat the virus, the email adds: “Take your meals back to your room to eat and use a dishwasher (if available) to clean and dry your used crockery and cutlery.

“If this is not possible, wash them by hand using detergent and warm water and dry them thoroughly, using a separate tea towel.”

All quarantined students are also told by the uni they “will need to ask for help if you require groceries, other shopping or medications” and that they should order items online and get it delivered “outside, or in the porch”.

Sheffield Hallam University has also told its students to stay isolated and not to travel to China and Hong Kong.

Earlier Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab amended the government’s travel advice for Britons currently in China to ask them to leave.

Featured image: SWNS/stock photo