World Hand Hygiene Day: Do you know how to wash your hands properly? Here are CDC approved guidelines



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World Hand Hygiene Day is celebrated every year on 5th May. It serves as a reminder that handwashing is one of the most important ways of preventing the spread of bacteria and viruses, including COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2. The novel coronavirus pandemic has certainly changed the entire face of the normal life as we used to know it.

Now every cough is met with a dreaded glare and it is considered uncivilized and unhygienic both if you don’t immediately wash your hands (or sanitize them) after coughing. While it should have been the norm, to begin with, the havoc wrecked by COVID-19 across the globe has given immense importance to personal hygiene, especially handwashing.

The theme of World Hand Hygiene Day

This year’s theme of the World Hand Hygiene Day is “SAVE LIVES: Clean your hands” to create awareness about the fact that handwashing and sanitizing our hands play a crucial role in preventing a wide age of infections and disease.

The simple act of washing your hands with lukewarm water (if available) and soap for 20 seconds can actually save lives. This year the World Hand Hygiene Day is observed along with “The Year of the Nurse and the Midwife.” It is to honor the contributions of our nurses and midwives who are the frontline soldiers in this battle against the pandemic COVID-19.

The proper way of washing our hands

As the world is putting a united front against the novel coronavirus, it is our responsibility to practice proper hand hygiene to put a pause on the spread of the highly infectious disease. While handwashing is one of the most effective ways of keeping pathogens and microbes at bay, it is equally important to know the correct method of washing our hands.

Here is the CDC- approved guideline on handwashing:


1. Wash your hands with running water and soap for at least 20 seconds. Make sure to turn off the tap as you apply the soap.

2.Cover the back of your hands, in between your fingers, your wrists and nail beds with soap properly.

3.Scrub your hands together for at least 20 seconds, which is about the same amount of time taken to sing “Happy Birthday” from start to finish twice.

4.After you are done scrubbing, wash your hands properly with clean, running water.

5.After cleaning your hands, make sure to either air-dry them or dry them with a clean towel or a tissue paper. Make sure that you dry your hands thoroughly before touching anything.

It is important to wash your hands:

1.Before and after cooking and eating

2. After sneezing or coughing (or blowing your nose)

3.When your hands are visibly dirty

4. Touching garbage

5.After using the toilet

6 After handling animals or animal waste



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