Doctor shares breathing technique that could stop your coronavirus infection getting worse

The footage was shared on YouTube on April 3 and has been viewed more than 1.6 million times in the days since it was uploaded.

In the video, Dr Sarfaraz Munshi from Queen’s Hospital in London describes a breathing technique to help open your smaller airways.

He recommends anyone who has the infection to try it out – as well as people who have not had the virus.

Watch the video embedded in this article.

Dr Munshi explains: ‘What I need you to understand is that once you have an active infection, you need to be getting a good amount of air into the bases of your lungs.

‘I want you guys to start doing this if you have the infection, right from the beginning. If you want to do it even before you pick up the infection, good idea.

‘The way it will work is, five deep breaths in and each time you will hold your breath for five seconds, on the sixth deep breath you will take it in and you will do a big cough, covering your mouth.

‘You will do this twice and then you will lay flat on your bed with a pillow in front of you taking slightly deeper breaths for the next 10 minutes because you’ve got to understand, the majority of your lung is on your back not your front.

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He continues: ‘By lying on your back you are closing off more of the airways, the smaller airways and this is not good during your period of infection. It is very important that you guys understand this.

‘Please remember, the most important thing is laying in bed for prolonged periods on your back is going to close off the small airways, will increase your risk of getting secondary pneumonia that can make your condition deteriorate much further.’

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