From regularly washing your hands to avoiding touching your face, there are a number of measures that have been shown to reduce your risk of coronavirus.
Now, one expert says that 10 minutes of sunshine a day could trigger the production of Vitamin D and potentially help reduce the risk of coronavirus, as she has found it does with other respiratory infections.
Dr Rachel Neale, a researcher at Brisbane’s QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, says it would "make sense" if having low levels of vitamin D left people more vulnerable to worse symptoms of coronavirus.
However, she added that research was needed to confirm whether or not this is the case.
Speaking to The Australian, she explained: “Now, more than ever, is not the time to be vitamin D deficient.
"It would make sense that being vitamin D deficient would increase the risk of having symptomatic Covid-19 and potentially having worse symptoms.
"And that's because vitamin D seems to have important effects on the immune system.”
In a study last year, Dr Neale tested 78,000 participants, and found that those with low vitamin D levels were almost twice as likely to develop acute respiratory infections.
Those people were also more likely to be sicker for longer, according to the researchers.
Vitamin D is naturally produced by our bodies in response to sunlight, and can also be found in a number of foods, including egg yolks, red meat and oily fish.
Vitamin D is thought to fend off respiratory infections by boosting antibiotic-like substances in the lungs.
Dr Neale revealed that she sits in the sun for five to ten minutes every day to trigger her body's production of vitamin D.
The NHS advises: “Consider taking 10 micrograms of vitamin D a day to keep your bones and muscles healthy.
"This is because you may not be getting enough vitamin D from sunlight if you’re indoors most of the day.”
Meanwhile, the NHS highlights that while several studies are looking into the benefits of Vitamin D amid the coronavirus pandemic, a link is yet to be proven.
It added: “There have been some news reports about vitamin D reducing the risk of coronavirus. However, there is no evidence that this is the case.”
