Burt Rodrigues CEO of Biodx gives his thoughts on what you should be looking for in protection against Covid.

“At the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic everyone looked immediately at the WHO (World Health Organisation) for guidance on protection against this virulent virus. Their opinion was that you should only use sanitiser products with a minimum active ingredient of 70% alcohol in their contents. So, everyone rushed out or ordered online just that, quickly clearing shelves of any sanitising product as long as it said it contained 70% active ingredient - alcohol.

The damage
“After frequent applications they found something disturbing, that regular spraying of alcohol based sanitiser, which could be numerous times a day, depending on your lifestyle, would leave your hands rough and raw and in worst cases, even severely damaged.

“And the FDA put out warnings on ‘home-made’ sanitisers, many of which were ineffective and, in some cases, caused skin burns.

Other safer and more effective options
“The WHO neglected to mention that there is a more effective protection against the virus than sanitising (99.9% effective) – namely disinfection (99.999% effective). So, in addition to the skin damage, the question is with what’s currently available on the shelves, are we getting the best protection?

“With the massive increase in Covid cases in the third wave what level of protection would you prefer?

“Then in December 2020 Brigham University in the US published a study in the Journal of Hospital Infection proving that alcohol-free hand sanitiser was found to be as effective as alcohol-based ones in fighting Covid-19, wiping out at least 99.9% of the virus within 15 seconds. And with certain active ingredients (like Biodx b bioactive™), one is able to achieve much greater efficacy* more safely than with alcohol.
“Then one has to ask the question, how many products on the market can actually claim proven/ tested efficacy against the SARS-CoV-2 virus? (were they tested on SARS-CoV-2 to the correct protocol* in an EU accredited BSL-3 lab, were they tested on another virus or were they even tested at all?)

“Producing more effective alcohol-free products from our active ingredient b bioactive™, are not just better for your skin and health, but also for the planet. Added to which they also offer seven hour efficacy (alcohol evaporates immediately, so offers no long term efficacy) giving the user greater protection, and peace of mind.

“To add to this b bioactive™, developed in South Africa, is currently the first South African, active ingredient with EU accredited lab SARS-COV2 test results. It’s an active ingredient that can be trusted on every level and especially now with this third wave trust in the product you’re using is vital.”

*Tested to EU NEN-EN 14476:2013 +A2:2019