Coronavirus scare: Why should you wash your hands with soap? For how long?

With the increase in coronavirus cases in several parts of the world, there has been great emphasis on washing hands thoroughly with soap and water. As per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, frequent hand-washing is an effective way to prevent transmission of the novel coronavirus.

The theory behind this has been explained in a thread on Twitter by scientist and professor Karen Fleming. In a series of tweets, Fleming said that soap is an "amazing weapon" that everybody has in their homes to stop coronavirus from spreading further.

She explained that coronavirus is an "enveloped" virus, as it has an "outer lipid membrane layer." In short, it is surrounded by a fat layer. "Washing your hands with soap and water has the ability to "dissolve" this greasy fatty layer and kill the virus," Fleming said in her tweet.

Now, how long should you spend washing your hands? Fleming has the answer, as she said in one of her tweets, "I'm told singing "Happy Birthday" twice is approximately how long we should all be scrubbing our hands with soap."

Read Karen Fleming's tweets here:

PSA for non-science folks: Wonder why everyone is emphasizing hand washing? Sounds banal, but soap really IS an amazing weapon that we all have in our homes. This is because coronavirus is an "enveloped" virus, which means that it has an outer lipid membrane layer.

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Karen Fleming (@KarenFlemingPhD) February 28, 2020

Basically, it's surrounded by a fat layer. Washing your hands with soap and water has the ability to "dissolve" this greasy fatty layer and kill the virus. I'm told singing "Happy Birthday" twice is approximately how long we should all be scrubbing our hands with soap.

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Karen Fleming (@KarenFlemingPhD) February 28, 2020

Plus, just imagine how much we will all laugh by singing happy birthday in the loo while we kill this bug!

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Karen Fleming (@KarenFlemingPhD) February 28, 2020

Karen Fleming's post has gone viral with around 55,000 retweets and is being frequently circulated across the internet.

Several scientists and researchers, in fact, have also said that in case you do not have soap handy, do use sanitizer. Also, you must make it a point to wash your hands after using the washroom and also before eating.

The number of coronavirus cases in Italy has jumped to 400 while a man from Washington became the US's first fatality from the deadly virus. Mainland China, on the other hand, reported 573 new confirmed cases on February 29, up from 427 the previous day.