A complete volte-face on how Britain is responding to Covid is the way to end the pandemic, according to some experts.

Ashlely Woodcock, professor of respiratory medicine at the University of Manchester, does not believe the virus is airborne but is largely being transferred by touch on surfaces.

Shifting the focus to cleaning homes and coating public amenities such as cashpoints with long-lasting disinfectants could rapidly stop the spread, he believes.

Most airborne viruses, such as measles, have very high reproduction numbers, with one person typically infecting more than a dozen others. Yet even on aeroplanes, where the air is circulated for many hours, only small numbers of people have picked up the virus.

“People have been looking for coronavirus in the air for about six months and there is one paper so far where they generated an aerosol of the virus artificially where they have shown persistence in the air,” Prof Woodcock said. “Nobody has identified coronavirus in the air in Sainsbury’s or a school or a pub. What they have done is found it everywhere on surfaces, on cashpoints, on phones, on supermarket tills.

“I think social distancing is important, but just so you don’t touch anybody. We need to have a ‘Let’s Clean Britain’ campaign.”

Bacoban meets all the criteria which Professor Woodstock recommends to reduce the spread of the virus.