REPORTAGE
Among the preventive measures against the spread of the coronavirus is that of washing your hands regularly, with soap or hydroalcoholic gel, the prices of which have been set. With the increase in the number of contaminated, the precious liquid is becoming increasingly scarce. To cope with a possible shortage, the government has announced that pharmacies can offer their own hydroalcoholic gel. "I signed a decree which will authorize pharmacies to produce their own hydroalcoholic solution," said Olivier Véran, the Minister of Health, after an inter-ministerial meeting at the Ministry of Health.
>> Find Fabienne Le Moal's midday journal in podcast and replay here
An easy recipe
To prepare this gel, the instructions are quite simple: "we make our mixture with 95% alcohol, hydrogen peroxide at 10 volumes, glycerin and distilled water", explains the employee of this pharmacy near Saint Lazare station. The mixture is then quarantined for 72 hours to allow effective sterilization. It is then packaged in a bottle. The products that are not on the shelves are sold to other pharmacies since only a handful of pharmacies is currently able to manufacture the product.
Beware of social networks
Internet users circulate mixtures on social networks with aloe vera gel, sweet almond oil, promising the production of a real hydroalcoholic gel. But professionals in the sector do not recommend these miracle recipes: in the opinion of pharmacists, they are not very effective, unlike that provided by the WHO.
Whatever happens, nothing will be more effective than regular regular hand washing with soap.