Paper towels should be the preferred way to dry hands after washing to reduce the risk of coronavirus contamination and spread.
They said they had found that using paper towels was substantially more effective than jet dryers for removing microbes when still-contaminated hands were dried.

The study was carried out by Dr Ines Moura, from the University of Leeds, and Duncan Ewin and Professor Mark Wilcox, from the university and also Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
They noted that drying was important to minimise the spread of microbes, including coronavirus, since failure to do so increased transfer to surfaces and opportunities for transmission and spread.
In their small study, the authors from Yorkshire investigated whether there were differences in virus transmission from the toilet to the hospital environment, according to hand drying method.
Four volunteers simulated contamination of their hands using a bacteriophage – a virus that infects bacteria and so is harmless to humans.
Their hands were not washed after contamination in order to simulate inadequately washed hands. Hands were then dried using either paper towels or a jet air dryer.
Each volunteer wore an apron, to enable measurement of body and clothing contamination during hand drying.
Hand drying was performed in a hospital public toilet and, after exiting, samples were collected from public and ward areas.
The team found that both drying methods statistically significantly reduced virus contamination of hands.