Johnnie Walker and Smirnoff maker Diageo pledges enough alcohol for 8 MILLION sanitiser bottles for coronavirus medics
THE maker of Smirnoff has pledged to donate enough alcohol to make eight million bottles of hand sanitiser to help protect medics on the frontline of the global pandemic.
Diageo will donate up to two million litres of alcohol to manufacturing partners in eight countries to help in the fight against coronavirus.
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The Johnnie Walker maker will provide Grain Neutral Spirit (GNS), which is a 96 per cent strength ethyl alcohol used to make gin and vodka, to hand sanitiser producers in the UK, Ireland, Italy, US, Brazil, Kenya, India and Australia.
Ivan Menezes, Chief Executive of Diageo, said: "Healthcare workers are at the forefront of fighting this pandemic and we are determined to do what we can to help protect them.
“This is the quickest and most effective way for us to meet the surging demand for hand sanitiser around the world.”
Diageo is part of a growing list of companies doing what they can to produce hand sanitiser.
In the UK, BrewDog swapped its production from beer to hand sanitiser to meet the spike in demand.
The craft ale company has created 60 per cent ‘Punk Sanitiser’ - based on its flagship Punk IPA brand - to hand out for free to help curb coronavirus spread.
Meanwhile gin distilleries have also switched to hand sanitiser production after spotting their facilities were perfect for producing the alcohol-based hand cleaner.
Bristol's Psychopomp Micro-distillery is supplying the public with 100ml of the product at a time for a donation to charity.
58 Gin, in London, will launch hand sanitisers in about three weeks' time after making a batch for a charity.
Matt Felgate, the owner of Lincoln Gin, said: "We are trying to use the resources we have - namely high-strength alcohol - to put together a functional hand sanitiser.
"I do not want a penny from this. I'm here to help and do the right thing.”
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Beauty companies in London have also switched to making hand sanitiser.
Pai and BeYou have been manufacturing hand sanitiser after seeing demand skyrocket.
Louis Vuitton's owner LVMH announced last week it would re-purpose three of its fragrance factories in France to make the gel.
