Wash Your Hands With Soap

Since the first confirmed cases of coronavirus in South Africa, Lifebuoy has stepped up its efforts to remind people to wash their hands with soap correctly to fight the spread of the virus.

While the most effective way to stay safe from infection is to avoid exposure to the virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) has outlined everyday activities to steer clear of infection, including washing hands with soap and water and using alcohol-based hand sanitizers as one of the primary interventions.

In the current situation, we encourage everyone to ensure they are following WHO guidelines including washing their hands properly with any soap, not just Lifebuoy.

Lifebuoy understands the power of handwashing with soap to help prevent the spread of infections. Since 2010, Lifebuoy has educated over 1 Billion people across the world, including over 11 million South Africans.

Since 2017, together with the Department of Education, we are teaching hygienic handwashing habits to children in 15 000 South African schools and have reached over 2 million learners to date to improve their handwashing behaviors to help prevent the spread of infections.

Now in the interests of public health, given the Coronavirus outbreak, we want to share this important information with all South Africans.

We recommend people wash their hands with soap on the five key occasions - these being before breakfast, lunch and dinner, after going to the toilet and whilst having a bath or shower. Other important occasions include; after coming into contact with large crowds of people either at gatherings, shopping centers or airports etc. or with potentially ill people and places where germs could easily spread.

People should also wash their hands after coughing or sneezing, when caring for the sick, before during and after preparing food, touching surfaces that many people have touched, when hands are visibly dirty and after handling animals or animal waste.

We encourage South Africans to remember this simple guide that F.I.G.H.T.S coronavirus:

• Frequent handwashing with soap
• Instant germ-protection with alcohol-based hand sanitizer when out of home
• Go to the doctor when you have a cold, cough or fever
• Home rest if you are feeling unwell
• Tissues and masks to be used when you cough or sneeze
• Stay away from eating raw meat and wild/live farm animals

Please use any soap nearest you, not just Lifebuoy, but any soap like Lux, Dettol, Protex or Sunlight.

If you would like further assistance, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has a toll-free number for the public that deals with Covid-19 questions: 0800 029 999. The list of hospitals handling cases of Coronavirus are:

• Limpopo: Polokwane Hospital
• Mpumalanga: Rob Ferreira Hospital
• Gauteng: Charlotte Maxeke Hospital, Steve Biko Hospital, Tembisa Hospital
• KwaZulu Natal: Grey’s Hospital
• North West: Klerksdorp Hospital
• Northern Cape: Kimberely Hospital
• Free State: Pelonomi Hospital
• Eastern Cape: Livingstone Hospital
• Western Cape: Tygerberg Hospital

By sharing this information, we hope that we can help people stay safe and protected.