Kannur: As Kerala battles COVID-19 with a slew of effective measures, Karimbam farm at Taliparamba in Kannur district claims to have produced hand sanitizers from aloe vera.
According to reports, the hand sanitizers made of aloe vera gel is said to be natural, safe and harmless.
"Aloe vera leaves have anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. Alcohol-based hand sanitizer sprays do not have aloe vera as one of its components," Ruby Johny, agriculture officer said.
Kerala farm produces natural sanitizers from aloe vera gel Kerala has already turned prisons into face mask manufacturing plants and aloe vera-based hand sanitizers will go a long way to ensure the supply of 'essential commodities', in the wake of the coronavirus scare leading to shortages and black marketing of these items.
The gel is squeezed out and extracted after removing the top and bottom layers of the aloe vera leaves. The firm is mixing ethanol with aloe vera gel in 2:1 ratio to produce hand sanitizers. Essential oils are also added to make the sanitizers more pleasant.
This initiative will help keep stock of sanitizers and tide over the panic buying witnessed in many other states and countries.
In the wake of COVID-19, the central government had earlier requested the states/UTs to advise manufacturers of deodorants to manufacture alcohol-based hand sanitizer spray with ethyl alcohol as main content on mass scale.
The decision to cap prices of alcohols would also empower the central government and states/union territories to regulate prices, production, sale, distribution, transport, movement, storage, information of alcohols used in manufacturing hand sanitizers, used as preventive measure to avoid infection from COVID-19.
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