VACCINES are all well and good - but a pair of spectacles is also apparently a good way to protect yourself from COVID-19.
That's the intriguing result of a new study in India, which has found people who wear glasses may be up to three times less likely to be infected by coronavirus.
The research, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, looked at 304 people at a hospital in northern India over a two week period last year, according to a report in The Independent.
All of the patients, aged between 10 and 80, had reported COVID-19 symptoms, and the scientists specifically studied how many times they touched their faces.
About one in five said they wore glasses most of the time - and they apparently rubbed their eyes much less frequently than those who did not.
The report found overall participants touched their faces 23 times per hour, and their eyes an average of three times per hour, noting that "touching and rubbing of the eyes with contaminated hands may be a significant route of infection".
"Long term use of spectacles may prevent repeated touching and rubbing of the eyes," the researchers concluded.
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