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Hands, face, space: Boris Johnson's new slogan to combat Covid-19

Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson revealed his latest public health slogan on Friday 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 new slogan on multiple occasions, 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,” he continued.

"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 self-isolate 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.”

Exiting the press conference, Mr Johnson was heard telling the chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty: “I think I repeated that one enough.”

It comes several weeks after the scientific advisory group on emergencies (Sage) discussed data which suggested there had been a “gradual decline in self-reported hand-washing frequency over the course of the epidemic.”

The group also recommended “revisiting behavioural interventions to increase uptake.”

The slogan is the latest in a long series of public health messages deployed by the Government during the pandemic to encourage public compliance with lockdown rules.

The first -  “Stay at home, protect the NHS, save lives” - received widespread praise at the onset of the crisis, although its replacement “stay alert, control the virus, save lives” was criticised in some quarters for being too vague.

A Downing Street source said the slogan had been a “team effort”, adding that a number of people had been working hard to devise public health messaging over the last few months.