The second wave of coronavirus took us all by surprise and wreaked a lot of havoc in the country. While experts suspect the new variants to have fuelled the surge in the number of cases, many believe that lax precautions could also have been a driving force.
Practicing COVID-appropriate behaviour is crucial
Since the onset of the novel coronavirus last year, other than social distancing and wearing masks at crowded areas, maintaining hand hygiene by frequent washing of hands or sanitising them is also important. However, when it comes to hand sanitisers, there are a lot of things you must keep in mind.
Hand sanitisers can help you maintain hand hygiene
COVID-19 is a respiratory illness and while experts believe that SARs-COV-2 virus is highly transmissible through air, frequently touched surfaces can be carriers too. This is why maintaining hand hygiene is extremely important as it can contain the spread of the deadly virus. You can either wash your hands, or when you're outdoors, you can make use of hand sanitisers. Hand sanitiser is usually a liquid, gel or a foam used to kill the vast majority of viruses and bacterias that can lead to infectious diseases.
Do's and don'ts of using hand sanitisers while protecting yourself from COVID-19
While using hand sanitisers can cut down your risk of catching COVID-19, it can have certain side effects too. Therefore, it is crucial that you pertain to simple guidelines while using sanitisers. Here are some simple do's and don'ts.
- Use sanitisers when you come in contact with frequently-touched and contaminated surfaces. Certain surfaces can carry viruses and bacterias that linger on for a long period of time. Once you come in contact with those contaminated surfaces, you may develop the infection, which may be passed on to others. In order to avoid such a situation, hand sanitisers can be beneficial.
- Sanitisers should contain 60 to 95 percent alcohol. With a low amount of alcohol or no alcohol content at all, sanitisers may not prove effective against the germs.
- Do not overuse hand sanitisers, as it may also lead to killing the microorganisms that are healthy, leaving one more susceptible to infections. Apart from that, overuse of sanitisers may also make your skin dry.
- Do not use hand sanitisers immediately before meals, since they contain high levels of chemicals. One of the ingredients found in some hand sanitisers is1-propanol. This chemical content can lead to central nervous system depression, causing breathing problems, confusion, slower heart rate and decreased consciousness.
- Children should be encouraged to wash their hands, rather than being told to use hand sanitisers. While children are unaware of the side effects, they may follow the adults and feel hand sanitisers to be harmless, which is untrue.
- Also, avoid using sanitisers to clean your food. If you think it disinfects the fruits and vegetables and that it is safe, then it is not true.
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