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I have opened a new thread for this information. Please bump regularly for one week so people get a chance to see it.

COVID-19 is a robust virus, it can remain on metal for 3 days, and cardboard or plastic for 6 days. Consequently supermarkets and groceries are now a vector. Surface infection is unlikely but it can happen. Here are ways to minimise risk:

1. Do NOT buy unsealed goods. - So dont buy anything from the deli counter, or consumables without a package. If you only follow one rule from this list follow this one.
2. Do buy disinfectant or bleach - You will need this to purify your items.
3. When shopping assume your hands are contaminated. Wear gloves if you can.
4. When you return home place ambient goods in a box and leave them for a week. Consider the box contaminated. If you need good earlier follow the procedures for fresh.
5. Run a sink of water with disinfectant. Dip all your items into the bowl, you don't need to submerge them long and the water can be cold, so long as there is a fair amount of disinfectant. Let the items drip then put them away. Handle your frozens first as you want a reasonable amount of time to drip them and you dont want icy product packaging. .
6. For cardboard containers add some disinfectant to a kitchen tissue paper and wipe down the items. Remember between wipes anything you pick up will become soiled, so this is why I recommend dipping.

Its less hassle than it sounds, just assume that your hands and your purchases are contaminated until they have been wiped, dipped or boxed for a week. This includes whatever else you touch.

You can't get corona virus from foods (or at least it doesn't seem so) so surely buying from a fresh counter is better? It goes into a new bag or box, so you haven't had someone putting their hands on packaging then putting it back on the shelves for you to then pick up.

If I'm not mistaken, the study which found how long the virus survives on external surfaces also said that it was not thought that the virus was primarily transferred in this manner. In the early stages of the virus' spread, they were able to directly follow its spread through personal contact. Currently, I'm unaware of any situation where someone has contracted the disease by taking home groceries.

But do whatever you need to do for you to feel safe.

While COVID-19 is a really important topic, I think all of us also need other things to talk about. We already have two threads for it in this section (a general one and a hobby specific one), and I don't think we need a third. So, please take any discussion related to this to the main coronavirus thread:

https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/784835.page

Thanks all