Washing your hands up to 10 TIMES each day slashes the risk of catching COVID-19 by a third, study suggests

Washing your hands up to ten times each day slashes the risk of catching COVID-19 by a third, a study suggests. 

Researchers at University College London said their study proves the simple act can can protect you against the killer infection.

They studied more than 1,600 Britons over three winter seasons in the past to see how often they caught the common cold, which is caused by similar coronaviruses.  

Participants had reported their hand hygiene routine, describing it as low, moderate or high.

Those who washed their hands moderately - between six to ten times daily - slashed the risk of falling ill by 36 per cent compared to those who did it zero to five times a day.  

Washing your hands up to ten times each day slashes the risk of catching COVID-19 by a third, a study suggests

The World Health Organisation's hand-washing method has six distinct steps (two to seven) which involve washing different parts of the hands to get rid of as much bacteria as possible

First author of the study Sarah Beale, from UCL's Institute of Health Informatics, said: 'Given that Covid-19 appears to demonstrate similar transmission mechanisms to seasonal coronaviruses, these findings support clear public health messaging around the protective effects of handwashing during the pandemic.

'It's important to highlight that frequency of handwashing is only one aspect of hand hygiene.

'We also know that both longer duration of handwashing and the context of handwashing e.g. upon returning home or before eating – have been associated with lower overall risk of influenza or influenza-like-illness.

'Good hand hygiene should be practised at all times regardless of whether you show symptoms or not.

'This will help protect yourself and prevent unwittingly spreading the virus to others around you.'

The research, which has been published in Wellcome Open Research but not peer-reviewed, draws on data from three winter cohorts (2006 to 2009) of the England-wide Flu Watch study. 

Each of the 1,633 participants provided baseline estimates of hand hygiene behaviour and coronavirus infections were identified from nasal swabs.

Participants, of which 80 per cent were over the age of 156, were asked to estimate how many times they had washed their hands the previous day.

Frequency of daily handwashing was subsequently categorised as low, zero to five times daily, moderate, six to 10 times daily, or high, more than 10 times daily. 

Although moderate hand washing was shown to cut the risk of sickness, any more than ten times a day did not make a difference.  

Ellen Fragaszy, UCL Institute of Health Informatics and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: 'Something as simple as washing our hands regularly can help us to keep the infection rate low and reduce transmissions.'

The authors write: 'This is the first empirical evidence that regular handwashing can reduce personal risk of acquiring seasonal coronavirus infection.

'These findings support clear public health messaging around the protective effects of hand washing in the context of the current Covid-19 pandemic.'

Health officials say the best way to protect yourself against SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes COVID-19, is to wash your hands. 

The World Health Organisation's advice is for people to wash their hands at least five times a day with soap and water or hand sanitiser. Friction, experts say, is the key to scrubbing off any signs of infection.  

Proper hand-washing involves rubbing the palms together, rubbing the backs of the hands, interlocking fingers both backwards and forwards, scrubbing the thumbs and washing the fingertips.  

The main route of transmission for the virus is through virus-laden droplets from coughs and sneezes. 

These droplets can land directly into another person's nose or mouth if not caught in a tissue, which is avoidable by keeping a safe distance - at least 1.5 metres - away from other people.

The droplets can also fall due to gravity and land on surfaces, where it can live for up to three days.

If someone else touches that contaminated surface, the virus can transfer onto their hand. It only takes them touching their eyes, mouth, or nose for the virus to enter the body.

People touch their faces 23 times on average, according to one study in 2015. So washing hands frequently to expel the virus could mitigate the risk of infection.  

The soap and water dissolves a fat membrane around the virus particle, which is there to protect the genetic material like glue. Once this is broken down, it is killed. 

The WHO, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Health secretary Matt Hancock have suggested people should scrub while singing Happy Birthday twice over because that's at least 20 seconds. 

THE PHYSICAL STEPS YOU CAN TAKE TO AVOID CATCHING CORONAVIRUS 

Wash your hands 

The World Health Organization's advice is for people to wash their hands at least five times a day with soap and water or hand sanitiser. 

Friction, experts say, is the key to scrubbing off any signs of infection. 

Prime Minister Boris Johnson today insisted the public should remember to wash their hands frequently, while singing Happy Birthday twice.

Proper handwashing involves rubbing the palms together, rubbing the backs of the hands, interlocking fingers both backwards and forwards, scrubbing the thumbs and washing the fingertips.

Avoid hugs and hand-shakes

Keeping people apart is one of the main ways governments can attempt to stop the spread of the virus – what officials call 'social distancing measures'.

In Italy, France and Switzerland, for example, public gatherings of large groups of people have been cancelled or banned.

And the French government has urged people to avoid 'la bise' – the traditional greeting of kissing someone on either cheek – and not to shake hands.

Health minister Olivier Veran said: 'The reduction in social contacts of a physical nature is advised. That includes the practice of the bise,' Bloomberg reported. 

It comes as Germany's interior minister today refused to shake Angela Merkel's hand today amid a growing coronavirus outbreak in the country.

Resort to 'air handshakes'

The handshake is becoming a taboo greeting among workers, as employees and clients fear the spread of coronavirus in the workplace.  

A motivational speaker and presentation coach has now devised the 'air handshake' because of the 'unfolding coronavirus situation'.

Richard McCann hosted an event in Leeds on Saturday and later posted a video that showed him greeting a man with an air handshake.

Posting to his social media accounts, Mr McCann questioned whether was being paranoid for not shaking the hands of those attending his £300 per-ticket event.  

Wear gloves 

Experts say the most common way the coronavirus is thought to spread is by people touching surfaces which have been contaminated by an infected patient.

This works by somebody who has got the disease coughing or sneezing onto their hand, then touching a surface while they have the viruses on their hands.

The viruses then survive on that surface – such as a doorknob or a handrail on a train – and are picked up by the next person who touches it, who then touches their face and transfers the virus into their mouth, nose or eyes.

Beware doorknobs, lift buttons and handrails 

'The lifts and the public toilets, these are the places where I would be very, very careful about touching any surfaces to not risk a coronavirus infection.'

He said that a lift was a particularly high risk place because everybody is trapped breathing the same air and having to press the same buttons. 

One tip he saw on social media suggested pushing lift buttons with a pen rather than a finger. According to Alistair Miles, an Oxford University researcher, everyone should stop touching their faces.

He said in a tweet: 'Stop touching your face. Especially stop touching your eyes, nose or mouth. This is much much harder than it sounds, and takes practice. But if you start practising now, you will quickly get a lot better at it.'