Hand sanitiser a sought-after product in Seychelles amid COVID-19

One of the types of hand sanitisers sold in local shops. (Seychelles News Agency)

(Seychelles News Agency) - Hand sanitiser is a hot -- and mostly sold-out -- commodity in Seychelles amid the spread of COVID-19.

SNA visited a few pharmacies to see how sales of hand sanitisers are going and discovered that not one of those visited in Victoria, the capital, had any of the alcohol-based product.

"At the moment we do not have any hand sanitiser at the pharmacy, in fact, we ran out of stock three weeks ago. In just two days we sold almost 600 bottles," the pharmacist at Lifecare Pharmacy, Selva Kumar Natarayan, told SNA.

He added that contacts were made with suppliers in Mauritius and India to order more stock who said that "they also have run out of stock."

Natarayan said that another option would be to turn to the African continent to find another supplier.

Behram's Pharmacy, located across the street from Lifecare, was also out of stock, but the number of people walking in and asking for the commodity has not gone down. A walk into Seychelles Trading Company Supermarket at the Orion Mall building and Cosmorama proved no different.

All is not lost as SNA learned that a local company is selling hand sanitisers.

While browsing on social media, SNA came across Pastel Cosmetic Seychelles on Facebook, which is importing the much-sought-after commodity. Pastel Cosmetic is selling hand sanitisers at SCR249 ($18) for one-litre bottle and SCR99 ($7) for 250 millilitres.

Using hand sanitiser is one of the ways that can help reduce the risk of infection. (Seychelles News Agency) Photo License: CC-BY

Other than using hand sanitisers to get rid of bacteria, the World Health Organisation (WHO) is advising people to follow basic protective measures against COVID-19.

Keeping the hands away from the face also reduce a person's chance of being infected. Hands touch many surfaces and can pick up viruses and once contaminated, they can transfer the virus to the eyes, nose or mouth.

People are being asked to regularly and thoroughly wash their hands with soap and water as this kills viruses. Alcohol-based hand rubs such as sanitizers are great alternatives when there is no immediate access to soap and water.

Practising social distancing is also advised with maintaining at least one-metre distance between individuals.