GENEVA: A range of sports stars and other celebrities have taken part in a World Health Organisation social media campaign to show proper hand-washing practices in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus launched the #SafeHands campaign on March 13, showing off his own hand-washing prowess, and has challenged a long list of famous people to create their own videos.

Health experts say frequent and thorough hand-washing is one of the most important tools in the fight against Covid-19, which has killed more than 6,000 people worldwide.

In his video, FIFA chief Gianni Infantino urged people to help "kick out the virus".

"Make sure you spread this message but not the virus," he said.

Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker also took part, as did retired Brazil midfielder Kaka, Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani, and French-Swiss F1 driver Romain Grosjean.

Joanne O'Riordan, an Irish activist and sports journalist suffering from an extremely rare disorder that has left her missing her legs and arms, also took the challenge, showing off that "just because you don't have hands, doesn't mean you shouldn't wash them."

The WHO said it was planning a number of similar campaigns on important topics linked with the outbreak going forward.

 - AFP