Coronavirus: Hand Sanitiser Vs Soap And Water, Which Is The Best Way To Wash Your Hands

Amidst the increasing number of confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide, the debate between hand sanitiser and handwashing with soap and water isn't coming to an end. The coronavirus outbreak led to a shortage of hand sanitizers and hand soaps. While both hand sanitizers and soaps can be helpful in preventing coronavirus, we can't decide which option is more effective.

Recently, Professor Palli Thordarson, Professor, School of Chemistry UNSW with his tweet shared that soap is a better option to prevent the deadly virus. The professor's soap tweet is all over. He wrote, "Let's recap: Soap dissolves the virus by breaking up the interactions that hold it together. The alcohol in sanitisers and wipes does pretty much the same: "Hence alcohol does also dissolve the lipid membrane and disrupts other supramolecular interactions in the virus."

However, he also shared hand sanitisers are also effective. He says soap is a better option but when you don't can't wash your hands with soap, you can go for a hand sanitiser.

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Professor Palli Thordarson also shared a guide to washing hands using a hand sanitizer. Have a look here:

8/9 Look at the recommended hand sanitizer method - do you do this? Why is this necessary? Because it is the best way to get the alcohol everywhere on your hands. Remember, you need the virus to "feel" that 60% alcohol, even it is very briefly. This is slightly harder to do. pic.twitter.com/d03x14tkVK

— Palli Thordarson (@PalliThordarson) March 11, 2020

He tweeted, "Both work very well! Use the one you prefer or better, both; sometimes soap, sometimes sanitizer. The latter is a lot more convenient. But it does not always kill 100%. Even if it sometimes "only" kills 95% you still done great. Rub long and well. That's the key with both!"

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We recently had a word with a health expert, Dr. Manjeetha Nath Das, Internal Medicine, Columbia Asia Hospital Gurgaon and she shared how washing your hands with soap and water is better than using a sanitiser. She said, "Soap and water are definitely better than the alcohol rubs or any medicated sanitizer because you wash it off, and on the other hand rubs do not get washed off. In case of alcohol rubs, there should be a specific amount of time of contact of the surface with the alcohol to kill the bacteria, which generally people don't know, they just take 2-3 drops of the sanitizer and rub all over hands, that too it is not sure that the sanitizer has evenly spread all over the area on which it is applied. It is better to frequently wash your hands with soap and water than using a sanitizer, but yes it is better than doing nothing one can use hand sanitizers to clean their hands."

Dr. P Venkat, Internal Medicine, Paras Hospitals Gurgaon also confirmed, "According to a study done in October, in the case of normal viruses, soap and water are able to eliminate the virus faster than alcohol-based rubs, because the mucous prevents the alcohol from entering and takes more time. Both are equally effective but with soap and water, the virus clearing is much faster and takes a little longer for the rub to act."

So if you can't access soap and water then you should clean your hands with sanitiser. The COVID-19 has killed more than 4000 people till now and it has been now officially as a pandemic by the World Health Organization.