How the unscrupulous turn a profit from virus fears

By Nina Notman2020-04-02T09:00:00

An illustration showing the trading of hand sanitiser on the black market in coronavirus times

Source: © Dan Bright

Why alcohol-based sanitiser found its way onto the black market and into stockpiles – and how it works against viruses

The advice to wash your hands with soap or to use alcohol based hand sanitiser to prevent the spread of the coronavirus led people to start stockpiling hand sanitising gel. Yet many didn’t understand how it would help combat the virus. This article explains the science behind the action of soap and alcohol-based sanitisers on Covid-19, describing how alcohol and soap molecules damage the lipids in the virus’s bilayer.

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