Cold and flu germs can live on some surfaces for hours. To protect yourself and others, always carry tissues with you and use them to catch your cough or sneeze. Bin the tissue, and to kill the germs, wash your hands with soap and water, or use a sanitiser gel. This is the best way to help slow the spread of germs.

Germs can be passed from person to person or indirectly by touching unclean equipment or surfaces. Hygienic cleaning involves focusing your efforts on areas in the house where germs are more likely to spread from and cause infection.

Good hygiene is not a once-weekly, deep-down clean. Hygienic cleaning needs to be an on-going part of our daily lives, where hygiene measures are targeted where and when necessary. Cleaning aids, such as cloths or mops, must be germ-free or they'll spread germs to other surfaces. Germs can multiply easily. Within eight hours, one bacterium on a damp cloth can multiply to six million.

Germs stick to cloths and are difficult to remove by rinsing, so all cleaning materials should be disinfected and then dried after use.