Avoid getting infected by washing hands regularly. With the world battling the COVID-19 pandemic, washing hands and maintaining hand hygiene has become the need of the hour.
Hand hygiene the need of the hour:
With the world battling the COVID-19 pandemic, washing hands and maintaining hand hygiene has become the need of the hour and is also one of the cheapest and easiest measure to prevent one from contracting the deadly coronavirus. While the scientists and health experts are still researching for a vaccine, the most important way to avoid getting infected is currently by washing hands regularly.
According to the CDC, washing hands with soap and water whenever possible can prevent 1 in 3 diarrheal illnesses and 1 in 5 respiratory infections, including a cold or the flu. Washing hands clean with soap and water whenever possible also reduces the amounts of all types of germs and chemicals on hands. However, it is strongly recommended to use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer to help avoid getting sick and restrict the germ spread to others.
Use good alcohol-based sanitizers:
Individuals should choose a sanitizer which has at least 70 per cent alcohol content. This is important because lesser alcohol content sanitizers are ineffective against many pathogens and do not offer complete sanitization of the hands. Currently, some sanitizers are being marketed as ‘alcohol-free sanitizers’ and one should avoid using those as there is not much evidence that suggests if they work at all.
Hence, on World Hand Washing Day by following regular hand washing practices and using everything in the right manner and the right place, we can keep ourselves safe and secure.
Dr. Brunda, Consultant
Internal Medicine
Aster CMI Hospital, Bengaluru