Alcohol-based hand disinfectants recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) are effective against the novel coronavirus which causes COVID-19, according to a study.
The formulations can be prepared quickly and easily by pharmacies and help alleviate the current shortage of disinfectants, said researchers from Ruhr-Universitat Bochum (RUB) in Germany.
In the study published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, the researchers exposed Sars-Cov-2 viruses for 30 seconds to two WHO-recommended disinfectant formulations.
"This time frame was chosen based on recommendations for hand disinfectants," said Stephanie Pfander from RUB.
The team then tested the viruses in cell culture assays and analysed how many of them remained infectious.
"We showed that both WHO-recommended formulations sufficiently inactivate the virus after 30 seconds," said Pfander.
The researchers noted that the findings do not merely apply to the WHO solutions.
Their main components, the alcohols ethanol and isopropanol, also showed adequate inactivation of the virus, they said.
The first disinfectant recommended by the WHO consists of 80 volume per cent ethanol, 1.45 volume per cent glycerine and 0.125 volume per cent hydrogen peroxide, the researchers said.
The second disinfectant consists of 75 volume per cent isopropanol, 1.45 volume per cent glycerine and 0.125 volume per cent hydrogen peroxide, they said.
