New guidelines have been released to help asthma sufferers manage their health condition during the coronavirus pandemic.
Advice from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has been agreed 'to maximise the safety of adults and children with severe asthma'.
Manchester Evening News reports people suffering from severe asthma should continue to take their treatment as it is prescribed.
Patients should attend any essential appointments alone to minimise the risk of infection. If they cannot attend alone they should take no more than one other person with them, the guidance warns.
GPs may request patients attend a consultation via video call or on the phone to avoid unnecessary contact.
Patients will also be told to regularly clean their equipment with detergent and not to share inhalers.
Doctors have also been asked to prescribe medicines for no more than 30 days' treatment to help maintain stocks.
Asthma UK has also released a series of advice for sufferers, which is as follows:
* Stay in your home for seven days if you live on your own, or 14 days if you live with others. Everyone in your household will need to stay in the house for 14 days.
* You don't need to contact 111 to tell them you are staying at home.
* If your COVID-19 symptoms don’t go away after 7 days, or get worse, or you are having difficulty breathing, call 111 for advice, or 999 if you need emergency care. Tell them that you have asthma, and if your asthma symptoms are getting worse.
* If you get an asthma cough and are not sure whether your cough is a symptom of COVID-19 or related to your asthma, speak to your GP, use the online 111 service or call 111 to ensure that you get the right care.
* Keep following your asthma action plan to manage your asthma and so you know what to do if your asthma symptoms get worse.
* If you are having an asthma attack, call 999 for an ambulance as usual, and tell them you have COVID-19 symptoms.
* Carry on taking all your usual asthma medicines as normal.
You can get all the latest coronavirus updates in our live blog here.
