Reducing hand recontamination of healthcare workers during COVID-19

Hand hygiene is particularly critical for frontline healthcare workers (HCWs) who are overstretched and for whom this key routine task must be easy to complete and effective.1 However, a neglected aspect of hand hygiene, even in the absence of a global pandemic, is the risk of touching surfaces or objects that could recontaminate hands after hand rubbing or washing, whether gloves are worn or not. Avoiding recontamination is implicit in the WHO Hand Hygiene guidelines for health facilities.2 Failure to comply with hand hygiene can result from not washing or rubbing hands at the right time or from subsequent hand or glove recontamination. WHO guidelines on hand hygiene in health care: first global patient safety challenge clean care is safer care.