Global Handwashing Day : UP CM Yogi Adityanath to start #HaathDhonaRokeyCorona

Thousands of people in the 75 districts of UP will wash their hands simultaneously to highlight the importance of hand hygiene

Uttar Pradesh (UP) chief minister Yogi Adityanath will start a new hashtag, #HaathDhonaRokeyCorona (hand-washing will check the spread of corona) on the occasion of the Global Handwashing Day on Thursday.

Lucknow, India-February 18, 2020: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath addresses a press conference after the State Budget 2020-21 was presented by the UP Finance Minister Suresh Khanna in the Assembly, at Tilak Hall, Vidhan Bhawan, in Lucknow, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2020. (HT Photo) (HT file)

Thousands of people in the 75 districts of UP will wash their hands simultaneously to highlight the importance of hand hygiene.

State government officials and employees will wash their hands between 10 am and 12 noon while maintaining social distancing norms and wearing masks in a bid to drive home the message how to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.

The drill will also be carried out in hospitals, anganwadi, panchayati raj and other state government departments.

The UP government has urged the public to include the hashtag in their posts. They can also share the videos and photographs to the following email --- hwdnhmiec@gmail.com. The best videos and photographs would be rewarded, state government officials said.

Covid-19 pandemic cases are on the wane in the state, yet the public should remain alert, said Navneet Kumar Sehgal, additional chief secretary (ACS), information, UP, while addressing a press conference with Amit Mohan Prasad, ACS, health and family welfare, UP.

Experts have been insisting that washing hands would not only protect a person from SARS-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19, but would also help break the viral infection chain, a state government official said.

“Hand washing should be made a people’s movement to check the spread of Covid-19 in the state,” he added.

Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), regional centre, Lucknow, had organised an awareness programme on the eve of Global Handwashing Day at an urban slum at Mansarovar Yojna, Dubagga, on Wednesday. The importance of hand hygiene and techniques of handwashing were explained to the slum-dwellers as part of the awareness campaign.