ELVIS COVID-19 Intervention Group

The follow video and instruction sheet tells you how to make up the salt water solution.

You can either make a single use amount or you can make in bulk for use during the day.

You will need around 250g of sea-salt/table salt for the full 14 days.

If you have any questions please contact us and we'll be in touch as soon as we can.

Contact us

The following video and instruction sheet explain how to carry out the nasal washout and gargling with salt water.

You are to carry out the nasal washout and gargling daily at home. The number of times you will need to do this will depend on the severity of your symptoms. You will be expected to carry it out 6-12 times a day in the first 5 days, then 3-12 times a day until you feel well again or until day 14.

After washout and gargling your symptoms may lessen. However, symptoms may re-appear (within 1-2 hours in the first few days and within 4-5 hours after a few days of washout). Carry out the salt water nasal washout and gargling as soon as you feel symptoms returning.

You may experience side effects such as irritation/stinging in the nose and post-nasal drip (which makes you clear your throat or swallow often). To reduce the chance of irritation/stinging in the nose you should choose the concentration of the solution that you find comfortable which is detailed in the “How to prepare the solution” instructions.

If you have any urgent health issues while carrying out the washout and gargling please contact your usual health provider or 111 coronavirus service for advice and please make them aware you are taking part in this study.  

Daily Diaries - for up to 14 days

An email will be sent to you first thing every morning with a link to complete a diary. We ask you to complete this as soon as possible each morning.

The diaries will ask you about your symptoms within the last 24 hours and to compare this to the day before. Each diary should not take longer than 10 minutes to complete.

You will receive an automatic e-mail reminder to complete you daily diary later in the day. If you've already completed your daily diary when the reminder arrives, please just ignore /delete the e-mail.

If you opt in to receive reminder messages by SMS you may receive a reminder SMS message to your mobile phone as a prompt to complete a daily diary if for some reason you miss one.

End of illness questions

When you feel well or on day 14 (whichever comes first), you will be asked to complete another short survey which will ask a few questions on what you did during the study and if other people in your household started to have COVID-19 symptoms.

Did anyone else in your household develop symptoms in 14 days?

If you have other people in your household, on day 14 you will be asked if anyone in your household started having COVID-19 symptoms after you became well.

All communication will be by e-mail/SMS reminders if you have chosen to receive them. However, if you have any problems with the links or how to complete the daily diaries you can speak to a member of our team - please do get in touch!

Contact us

Please continue to monitor and self-manage your symptoms. Please continue to follow the UK Government advice on personal and household hygiene: 

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Self-Isolation and Treatment Advice on the NHS UK website

If you have any questions regarding the study or need help with the links please contact the study team via email. We will do our best to answer you questions as quickly as possible.

Email the ELVIS COVID-19 Team 

Please note that this email inbox is monitored Monday - Friday during normal working hours. 

If you have an urgent query regarding your participation in the study, please contact:

Lesley Sinclair (study manager) 07787 0043443

Or Dr Sandeep Ramalingam

Email Dr Sandeep Ramalingam

Please use the Coronavirus (COVID-19) guidance from the relevant NHS website (for where you live) if your symptoms get worse and need to seek medical help: 

• England: Coronavirus (COVID-19) guidance on the NHS England website
• Northern Ireland: Coronavirus (COVID-19) guidance on the NHS Northern Ireland website
• Scotland: Coronavirus (COVID-19) guidance on the NHS Inform Scotland website
• Wales: Coronavirus (COVID-19) guidance on the NHS Wales website

Phone 111 or contact your GP

We are asking you to perform the nasal washout and gargling with salty water and complete the daily diaries until you feel better or for 14 days, whichever comes first.

The final stage is a short end of illness survey - and if you have others in your household a very last short survey on day 14 to find out if anyone else in your household developed symptoms.

After this time, we will not contact you further or ask you to continue the nasal washout and gargling. If you agreed to us collecting a sample for future antibody testing, we may be in touch when this becomes feasible. 

At the end of the research we will analyse the data and publish the results. We will also publish a summary of the results online on the study website. This will give you the information that you may require if you wish to continue to carry out the nasal washout and gargling after the study is finished.

It is important to note that your personal details will never be shared in a public setting, online or otherwise. We value your privacy and take the necessary measures to ensure your data stays safe.

If you no longer want to take part, you can stop at any time. There is an option on the online diaries to let us know that you no longer want to take part and this will let us know not to contact you further. You will also be asked if it is ok for us to use any data you have given us up to the point when you stop taking part.

If you withdraw from the study please know this will not affect the healthcare that you receive from the NHS in any way.

Information about the ELVIS COVID-19 study

ELVIS COVID-19 

Find out about the ELVIS COVID-19 Team

ELVIS COVID-19 Study Team