Many Australians are unaware they are using hand sanitiser that is ineffective, particularly in preventing transmission of coronavirus, experts fear.
Hand sanitiser has rapidly been selling out in shops for weeks, but there are concerns that variations in alcohol levels mean some are not providing adequate protection.
“It’s dangerous in that they may not work anywhere near as well as you’d expect,” Peter Collignon, professor of infectious diseases at the Australian National University, said.
Across Australia, there are thousands of products that are marketed as hand sanitiser, but not all are equal.
The least effective are sanitisers that contain no alcohol.