Washing your hands 6 times a day ‘slashes risk of coronavirus by THIRD’

WASHING your hands more than six times daily slashes the risk of catching Covid by a third, research suggests.
Experts from University College London said their study proves scrubbing your mitts can protect against the killer bug.

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The team analysed sickness data for 1,633 Brits over three winter seasons.
Participants reported their hand hygiene routine, and scientists identified cold infections – triggered by coronaviruses - from nasal swabs.
It found moderate handwashing, between six to ten times daily, slashed the risk of falling ill by 36 per cent compared to those who did it less frequently.
But any more scrubbing made no significant difference to a person’s chance of catching a seasonal cold.
Experts say the findings indicate handwashing can combat coronaviruses, including Covid-19.
Researcher Sarah Beale 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 practiced 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 non-reviewed research is published in Wellcome Open Research.

It concludes: “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.”  Brits have been repeatedly urged by officials to regularly wash their hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds to limit their Covid risk.
Health secretary Matt Hancock has suggested people should scrub while singing Happy Birthday twice over.
Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance has revealed Prince's ‘Raspberry Beret’ is his personal handwash song.

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