Research suggests simple handwashing can drastically reduce spread of coronavirus

Researchers claim that if simple handwashing is done by travellers then the spread of the coronavirus can decrease by 24 – 69%, reported the UK-based Metro News.

The research “Hand-hygiene mitigation strategies against global disease spreading through the air transportation network”, claims that if hand-washing practices are followed at ten key airports then there would be a huge decrease in the spread of viruses.

According to the British paper, the ten airports ‘are not just locations that see large volumes of passengers, they also connect travelers with destinations in all parts of the world’.

Metro News reported that the authors have claimed that if these ‘mitigation strategies’ are implemented in ten key locations, the pandemic risk can drop by up to 37%.

Also read: Coronavirus: Latest developments around the world as death toll rises to 1,113

“Airports, and airplanes, are highly infectious because they are close, confined areas with large, mobile populations,” said Christos Nicolaides of the University of Cyprus and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

According to the British paper such public need to be cleaned regularly and asked travellers should wash their hands and ensure that face masks and follow good coughing etiquette while jetting off to another place. The research suggests that coughing in elbow or tissues can be considered as good coughing etiquette.

The researchers said that if hand cleanliness at all airports increased from 20% to 30%, the disease would have a global impact that is 24% smaller.

Deadly virus

Death toll from coronavirus jumped dramatically in China's Hubei province on Thursday under a new method for diagnosing cases, as health experts warned the epidemic could get worse before it gets better.

Health officials in Hubei province said 242 people had died from the flu-like virus on Wednesday, the fastest rise in the daily count since the pathogen was identified in December, and bringing the total number of deaths in the province to 1,310. The previous record rise in the toll was 103 on February 10.

Hundreds of infections have been reported in more than two dozen other countries and territories, but only two people have died from the virus outside mainland China — one in Hong Kong and another in the Philippines.