COVID - 19 : Make Hand Washing A Way Of Life - Virologist

April 10, 2020

COVID – 19 : Make Hand Washing A Way Of Life – – – Virologist

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Aside other known interventions such as wearing facial mask, isolating the sick and social distancing, hand-washing — with soap and water has been identified as a far more powerful weapon against COVID – 19 than many of us realize.

“We need to make hand washing a way of life “, emphasised Prof. Sunday Omilabu, a Professor of Medical Virology at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos.

The virologist gave this advise during an online interaction with members of Health Writers Association of Nigeria (HEWAN) on COVID-19 in Lagos recently.

He stressed that hand-washing is one important tool to check and control spread of not just COVID – 19 but incidences of other infectious pathogens.

He explained that hands are the connecting piece and a good number of Nigerians are asymptomatic to the virus as such, ” we should wash our hands before we eat, before we scratch our eyes, our head, nose etc, practice general hygienic lifestyle since Coronavirus can be found on any object.”

Prof Omilabu therefore enjoined all to cultivate the habit of hand washing as it is the easiest thing we can all do to prevent the transmission of coronavirus.

“During Ebola outbreak, we applied hand washing as approach towards ending the transmission and it really helped us. So we are applying it this time around. Thorough washing of hands with soap will do the magic. We have to keep up waging the war. We can also use hand sanitizers to reduce viral load “, he said.

Below are tips of hand washing according to experts

Step 1

Wet your hands with clean, running water. Then, turn off the tap and soap up your hands.

Soap is more effective at removing germs than water alone.

Step 2

Work the soap into a lather by rubbing your hands together. Lather soap onto the backs of your hands, in between your fingers and under your nails.

Lathering causes friction, which strips pesky germs and dirt from the skin. Be sure to get into the nooks and crannies, too — germs lurk there.

Step 3

Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds. Sing or hum “Happy Birthday” twice through to keep time.

There’s no magic number, but washing your hands for at least 20 seconds has been shown to remove more microbes than washing for shorter periods does. Singing “Happy Birthday” is just a fun way to make sure you’re scrubbing long enough.

Step 4

Rinse your hands well under clean, running water.

You’ve lifted the germs from your hands. Clean water flushes them off.

Step 5

Dry your hands using a clean towel or air-dry them (or a bit of both).

Wet hands easily transfer viruses. Drying them off lessens that risk.

Soap and water are your best defenses against viruses, but hand sanitizer is an OK substitute if you don’t have access to either of those. Just pump a small glob of sanitizer on one hand and rub your hands together for about 20 seconds. Hand sanitizers won’t get rid of dirt, chemicals or a few types of germs, but they’re better than nothing.

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