Hand and other hygiene practices

It is regrettable that a global healthcare crisis is needed as a reminder that good hand and other hygiene practices are essential to minimise cross-infection and avoid the spread of pathogens. An outbreak of the new strain of coronavirus Covid-19 has taken hold in Wuhan and Hubei Province and spread widely across China, with some global spread through human-to-human contact. Unsurprisingly, there is concern about how the outbreak may be contained, with the public health agencies in the UK issuing guidance (UK Government, 2020).

Coupled with general guidance, Public Health England (PHE) (2020a) has issued infection prevention and control (IPC) guidance emphasising that personal protective equipment and good IPC practices can minimise risk, although they cannot eliminate it. Careful attention to hand hygiene practices is key, alongside other standard infection control precautions and patient education to adopt good respiratory and cough hygiene to minimise cross-transmission of the virus. Guidance has also been issued for primary care, aimed at identifying potential cases quickly and preventing transmission to staff and other patients (PHE, 2020b).