Diageo is donating up to two million litres of alcohol to manufacturing partners to help protect frontline healthcare workers in the fight against Covid-19.
The distiller will produce Grain Neutral Spirit (GNS) – basically 96% pure alcohol used primarily in the production of vodka and gin – and make it available at no cost to hand sanitiser producers in multiple countries, to help overcome shortages in healthcare systems. This will enable the production of more than eight million 250ml bottles of hand sanitiser worldwide.
Half a million litres of GNS will be made available for national healthcare systems and workers across the UK and Ireland.
“Healthcare workers are at the forefront of fighting this pandemic and we are determined to do what we can to help protect them,” said Ivan Menezes, Chief Executive of Diageo. “This is the quickest and most effective way for us to meet the surging demand for hand sanitiser around the world.”
