Assam: Alcohol Industry to Provide 5 Lakh Litres of Hand Sanitizer to Fight COVID-19

Guwahati, March 29, 2020: 

With novel coronavrius or COVID-19 on the rise and alcohol consumption on the low, the alcoholic beverage industry of Assam has decided to help in its best way by providing 5 lakh litres of alcohol-based hand santizer (considered the ideal) to the Government.

On Sunday, the Excise department decided to aid the State Government in meeting the rising demands of hand sanitizers and shortage in supply of the same. Assam Excise Minister Parimal Suklabaidya said that the department has decided to cater 5 lakh litres of hand sanitizer to the State government to combat the coronavirus.

While speaking with Inside Northeast, Suklabaidya said, "Keeping the crisis of hand sanitizers in Assam, we have tried to make hand sanitizers, the reason being that we have alcohol and by getting the other contents like hydrogen peroxide. The alcoholic beverages that are in the market contain 42% alcohol. For sanitization, we need over 70%. Since we have the basic content for sanitizing purpose, we can make the hand sanitizers. For this, we have signed agreements with 11 factories. They have already started working on it."

He informed that the private factories have agreed to produce the 5 lakh hand sanitizers with the help of their Consumer Social Responsibility (CSR) funds.

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"We will also bring out 1 crore bottles of 200 ml capacity, which we will sell for a minimal cost of Rs 50 and rest of the rest of the production, i.e. 5 lakh litres, will be given for free to the Government."

Factories in Jorhat, Karbi Anglong, Guwahati and Silchar have already started manufacturing the hand sanitizers.

It needs mention here that this development amid lockdown has come days after breweries in Assam had halted their operations following the outbreak of novel coronavirus or COVID-19.

The Assam Government's Health and Police Departments had already begun their work of adopting the necessary measures to quarantine people in case of an out break in the State.

Assam, although has not reported any positive case, is preparing temporary camps meant for the purpose of home quarantine for 700 people.

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Meanwhile, India has surpassed the 900-mark in the total coronavirus or COVID-19 cases on Saturday to reach 987 infected people in the country as on Sunday.

Among the States and Union Territories in India, Maharashtra has recorded the highest number of positive coronavirus cases — 193 (including three foreign nationals). Kerala has 176 positive cases (including eight foreign nationals), Karnataka has 76, Telangana has 65, Uttar Pradesh has 61, Gujarat 58, Rajasthan 56, Delhi -49, Tamil Nadu 42, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh 39 each, Jammu & Kashmir 33, Haryana 21, Andhra Pradesh 19, West Bengal 18, Ladakh 13, Bihar and Andaman & Nicobar Islands have 9 cases, Chandigarh 8, Chattisgarh and Goa have 6 each, Uttarakhand 5, Himachal Pradesh 4, Puducherry, Manipur and Mizoram have one cases each.

Internationally, 30,888 deaths have been reported till date due to the coronavirus, with a large chunk of those being reported from Italy (10,023). In all, 664,248 people have been infected by the virus till now, with 142,366 having recovered. Somewhat gravely, 25,207 are said to be in a “serious” condition.

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