Coronavirus Isle of Man: Distillery switches from gin to hand sanitiser

A gin distillery on the Isle of Man has turned its entire production line over to making hand sanitiser during the coronavirus outbreak.

The first batch of Fynoderee's high-strength alcohol rub was ready this week and 500 litres will be donated to the government for essential services.

It was made using a World Health Organization-approved recipe.

A company spokesman said it hoped to "relieve pressure" on local supplies and "support the community".

There have so far been a total of 114 positive cases for coronavirus on the Isle of Man.

Several local companies are assisting Fynoderee with distribution, packaging and labelling.

The distillery originally planned to use waste alcohol from its gin production process.

But because this contained traces of botanical ingredients, bosses decided to use pure ethanol instead.

Dubbed 'fynitiser', the 80% alcohol rub is being distributed in five-litre containers and will be made available to charities, businesses and organisations as well as the island's essential services.