Coronavirus – MENA: Hygiene Baselines pre-COVID-19 – UNICEF Regional Office for Middle East and North Africa

2 out of 10 households in the Middle East and North Africa region do not have a dedicated place for washing hands with soap and water on premises.

Almost half of the schools in the Middle East and North Africa region do not have hand-washing facilities with soap and water available to students.

We do not know how many health care facilities in the Middle East and North Africa region have functional handwashing facilities with soap and water or hand.

• Frequent and proper hand hygiene is one of the most important measures that can be used to prevent infection with the COVID-19 virus
• There are two main routes of transmission of the COVID-19 virus: respiratory and poor hygiene
• The COVID-19 virus has not been detected in drinking-water supplies, and based on current evidence, the risk to water supplies is low
• Currently, there is no evidence about the survival of the COVID-19 virus in drinking-water or sewage
• Conventional, centralized water treatment methods that use filtration and disinfection should inactivate the COVID-19 virus

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).