Tips for effective hand-washing to fight Coronavirus COVID-19 | Beauty Emporium
With COVID-19, hand washing has become a part of our daily life. Respiratory viruses like coronavirus disease (COVID-19) spread when mucus or droplets containing the virus get into your body through your eyes, nose or throat. Often, this happens via your hands. Hands are also one of the most common ways that the virus spreads from one person to another.
One of the easiest, and most important ways to prevent the spread of a virus like COVID-19 is to wash your hands frequently. Here’s everything you need to know about how to wash your hands the right way:
1. How do I wash my hands properly?
To eliminate all traces of the virus on your hands, a quick scrub and a rinse won’t cut it. Below is a step-by-step process for effective hand washing.
Step 1: Wet hands with running water
Step 2: Apply enough hand soap to cover wet hands
Step 3: Scrub all surfaces of the hands thoroughly – including back of hands, wrists, between fingers and under nails – for at least 20 seconds.
Step 4: Rinse hands with running water
Step 5: Pat dry hands with a clean cloth or paper hand towel
2. How long should I wash my hands for?
You should wash your hands for at least 20-30 seconds. An easy way to time it is by singing the full happy birthday song or your ABC's, twice.
3. When should I wash my hands?
For COVID-19 prevention, you should make sure to wash your hands at the following times: - After blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing
- After visiting a public space, including public transportation, markets and places of worship
- After touching surfaces outside of the home, including money
-Before, during and after caring for a sick person Before and after eating
In general, you should always wash your hands at the following times: - After using the toilet
- Before and after eating
- After handling waste or rubbish
- After touching animals and pets
- After changing babies’ diapers or helping children use the toilet
- When your hands are visibly dirty
5. Do I need to use hot water to wash my hands?
You can use any temperature of water to wash your hands but hot water can irritate your hands. Cold water and warm water are equally effective at killing germs and viruses – as long as you use soap!
6. Do I need to dry my hands with a towel?
Germs spread more easily from wet skin than from dry skin, so drying your hands completely is a very important step. Paper towels or clean cloths are the most effective way to remove germs without spreading them to other surfaces.
7. Which is better - washing your hands or using hand sanitiser?
In general, both hand washing with soap and water and hand sanitiser, when used correctly, are highly effective at killing most germs and pathogens. Hand sanitiser may often be more convenient when you are outside of the home but the alcohol contained in hand sanitisers may dry out the skin more. Moisturise hands after washing or using hand sanitiser.
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