‘Hands, face, space’ is Johnson’s new slogan
BORIS JOHNSON revealed his latest public health slogan yesterday as he urged people to stick to the principles of “hands, face, space ... and get a test” to help slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Speaking at a Downing Street press conference, Mr Johnson said that in the absence of a vaccine the “only real utensil” available in controlling the disease was “human behaviour”.
Repeating the slogan multiple times, the Prime Minister said people needed to wash their hands, cover their face with a mask, keep their distance from one another, and to take a Covid-19 test if they developed symptoms. “We need to keep it as simple as we possibly can and that’s why, to sum it up in a nutshell, it is ‘hands, face, space’ – wash your hands, cover your face in the settings that we had mentioned and keep your distance from other people where you don’t know them, you’re coming into contact with them for the first time, and of course get a test and selfisolate if you have symptoms. I hope that was pretty ... You know, that was pretty punchy, I think – hands, face, space, and get a test. I think everybody can more or less remember that.”
Leaving the conference, Mr Johnson was heard telling Prof Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer: “I think I repeated that one enough.”
It comes several weeks after Sage, the scientific advisory group on emergencies, discussed data suggesting a “gradual decline in self-reported handwashing frequency”.
The slogan is the latest in a series of public health messages. The first, “Stay at home, protect the NHS, save lives”, received widespread praise, although its replacement, “Stay alert, control the virus, save lives” was criticised for being too vague.