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WHO asks Greta Thunberg and Leonardo DiCaprio to promote hand washing

As part of the World Health Organization's Safe Hands challenge, celebrities are taking to Twitter to encourage hand hygiene.

Abrar Al-Heeti Technology Reporter
Abrar Al-Heeti is a technology reporter for CNET, with an interest in phones, streaming, internet trends, entertainment, pop culture and digital accessibility. She's also worked for CNET's video, culture and news teams. She graduated with bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Though Illinois is home, she now loves San Francisco -- steep inclines and all.
Expertise Abrar has spent her career at CNET analyzing tech trends while also writing news, reviews and commentaries across mobile, streaming and online culture. Credentials
  • Named a Tech Media Trailblazer by the Consumer Technology Association in 2019, a winner of SPJ NorCal's Excellence in Journalism Awards in 2022 and has three times been a finalist in the LA Press Club's National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards.
Abrar Al-Heeti
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Greta Thunberg is among the many big names being tapped to take the Safe Hands challenge on Twitter.

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The World Health Organization is calling on some big names to take its Safe Hands challenge. WHO has asked dozens of high-profile figures, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Ivanka Trump, Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds and Greta Thunberg, to share videos of themselves washing their hands as a protective measure against COVID-19, the disease caused by a newly identified coronavirus.

Over the past several days, WHO director-general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has been nominating people via tweet to take the #SafeHands challenge by sharing their video and calling on at least another three people to join. Other celebrities nominated include Priyanka Chopra, Katy Perry, BTS, Jane Fonda and Al Gore. 

Celebrities including The Pussycat Dolls and Billy Porter have shared videos of themselves promoting hand hygiene. 

Watch this: Pandemic: Here's what's changed about the coronavirus

Efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19 have been ramping up. It has killed more than 7,500 people and infected more than 190,000 people globally. Last week, WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Numerous cities and countries are on lockdown. Major events have been called off or postponed. And many employees are being told to work from home

To protect against the spread of COVID-19, people are encouraged to practice social distancing and to thoroughly wash their hands

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