With Shark Week highlighting the rare but serious risk of shark attacks, a South Carolina-based emergency medicine physician, Dr Kenneth J. Perry, has outlined the vital first-aid steps that bystanders and victims should take in the crucial first five minutes after a bite, when swift action is said to be the biggest factor in survival. The advice comes amid a run of shark incidents in the US this summer, including a New York beach closure over bull sharks, a swimmer bitten in Queens, and a child attacked in shallow water in Florida.

Shark researcher Chris Fischer, founder of OCEARCH, has also weighed in, noting that shark populations have rebounded to levels last seen in the 1960s, and advising beachgoers to swim in "quiet areas" of the ocean and avoid the water when bait fish are active in order to reduce risk. Despite the recent cluster of incidents, shark encounters remain described as exceedingly rare overall.