Covid-19: Wash Hands, Save Lives with Botanic Hearth Tea Tree Hand Soap

Covid-19 has changed the face of the earth. No more the common privileges of going out, dining at restaurants, meeting people, or even shaking hands are safe.  At present, when the world is struggling economically, and people are striving to make ends meet, the virus is still spreading like fire in the jungle. Every day there are reports of increasing Covid-19 cases and hundreds of people dying from this infectious disease. The only saving grace that we have is to follow simple precautionary and preventive measures to stay safe. Amid this chaos, we have to hold onto hope and remain positive to fight against coronavirus together as one community strongly.

One person's negligence and carelessness can harm one's family, friends, loved ones, and the entire community. The silver lining in this pandemic is we are getting time off from our busy schedules and hectic work life. We have time to work on ourselves and improve our lifestyle and habits for a healthy life. A particular impactful and appropriate phrase that is making rounds in social media reads, "saving lives has never been this easy." So we simply have to stay at home, maintain social distancing, and wash hands to save lives. Here is the list of preventive measures to follow amid Covid-19 pandemic:

Ways to prevent the disease:

• Wash your hands for 20sec at least
• Frequently wash your hands with any soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
• Cover your nose & mouth when sneezing
• Cover your face with a tissue while you are coughing and sneezing
• Use hand sanitizers
• If soap and water are not available, you can use hand sanitizers.
• Avoid visiting crowded places (Keep 6 feet apart with others when standing in queues)
• Follow social distancing (avoid inviting people over your house and throwing parties)
• You can lower the risk of catching infection by reducing your physical contact with other people. Avoid sharing public spaces and organizing casual social gatherings with large numbers of people or crowds. Social distancing will lower the chance of your exposure to the coronavirus and other infectious diseases like flu.
• Avoid contact with sick people
• Wear mask and gloves when you visit an elderly or ill person or visit a public place
• Avoid any physical contact with anyone who is showing symptoms of respiratory illness
• Change your clothes immediately after returning from a public place
• Keep your house and surroundings clean
• Frequently clean the surfaces around your house with disinfectants

The common questions that people might have regarding Covid-19 and its preventive steps are answered and explained as follows:

What is Isolation?

Isolation is the separation of a COVID-affected or suspected of being infected from other healthy people for a specific duration. In this duration, the isolated person stays alone and does come in contact with healthy people, visit crowded or public places to prevent transmission of the disease.

What is the difference between isolation and quarantine?

Isolation and quarantine are preventive strategies to stop the transmission of infectious diseases. In the case of Covid-19 that transfers from one person to another through physical contact, social distancing can save the life of healthy people from affected people.

What are the necessary preventive steps for me?

• You may be asked to:
• Stay at home
• Maintain social distancing.
• Keep your symptoms in check
• Immediately contact a doctor or health care practitioner if you develop any symptoms.

 Do isolation and quarantine prevent infection of others?

Quarantine and isolation have been proven effective in ceasing the spread of infectious diseases like coronavirus. Through both these preventive measures, the risk of getting affected and the spread has been reduced worldwide.

What is Quarantine?

Quarantine is isolating oneself from getting into contact with other people to stop the spread of an infectious disease. A competent medical authority ascertains the period for quarantine.

What precautions do I need to take at home?

• Stay in an airy room

• Stay within the premises of your home

• Avoid sharing spaces with other people

• Use surgical masks at all times.

• Change the mask after using it (that is when it gets with secretion, breathe and sweat)

• Cover your mouth with a clean and unused tissue when you cough or sneeze and throw the tissue immediately.

• Frequently clean your hands by using soap and water or an alcohol-based disinfectant.

 What precautions do people taking care of me make?

• Only healthy people with no symptoms of coughing and sneezing or other diseases should come in contact with you to

• The caregivers should wear surgical masks at all times when they are with you in a room or keep a distance of 1 foot.

• Do not touch or handle mask during

• Dispose of the mask after use.

• Thoroughly wash your hands using soap and water or an alcohol-based disinfectant after taking the mask off.

 What precautions do the people I live with need to take?

• The caregivers should not allow visitors while you have symptoms.

• Your family member should stay in a different room than you if possible or maintain a distance of at least 1 meter from you.

• The caregivers must clean their hands before and after preparing food, before eating, after using the toilet, and whenever hands look dirty.

• What should I do if any person I have met develops symptoms?

• Contact your doctor, or a health care practitioner and have your symptoms checked

• Do I need to make any special arrangements at home?

• Cover the dustbins with plastic bags and tightly tie the plastic bags when you dispose of the garbage

• Disinfect surface around your house. Prepare a diluted solution with 1-part household bleach to 99 parts water to clean bathrooms, toilets, surfaces tables, bed frames, and other bedroom furniture once a day.

• Do not touch any contaminated material. Put used bed sheets in a laundry bag. Do not shake any used laundry, and avoid direct contact with the skin.

• Wash clothes, bedclothes, bath and hand towels, etc. using regular laundry soap and water or machine wash at 60-90°C with standard household detergent and dry thoroughly.