INEOS, a leading chemcial manufacturer, announced it will build a UK factory to produce 1 million bottles of hand sanitizer per month within 10 days and will replicate this in Germany. These will be produced according to World Health Organisation specifications and be specifically designed to kill bacteria and viruses.

INEOS is the leading European producer of the two key raw materials needed for sanitisers—isopropyl alcohol (IPA) and ethanol. The company is already running these plants flat out and have been diverting more of this product to essential medical use and will now build two new factories to make hand sanitizer from them.

INEOS intends to produce both standard and the increasingly popular “pocket bottle” hand sanitizers and is already talking to retail outlets across Europe. Supplies to NHS hospitals will be free of charge for the period of the crisis with the public being able to purchase bottles through retailers.

INEOS products are essential to the production of essential healthcare products from rubber gloves, to PVC saline drips, syringes, ventilators, and medical tubing. Its products purify the public drinking water. It produces raw materials for soap, acetone for aspirin and paracetamol, and its phenol is being used in pharmaceutical analysis essential in procedures necessary to find a vaccine.

INEOS is a company with enormous resources and manufacturing skills. If we can find other ways to help in the Coronavirus battle, we are absolutely committed to playing our part.

—Sir Jim Ratcliffe, founder and chairman of INEOS