Boris Johnson and The British Government must:

1. Take the lead in ensuring all food stores offer hand sanitiser to all customers as they enter, and extend this across all shops as lock-down is eased.
2. Ensure an adequate supply of hand sanitiser is available to shops by commissioning cosmetic manufacturers to use their production lines. This is happening in France

It is already well established that people can carry live Covid-19 virus on their hands for several days before they show any symptoms. Many people with the virus may never develop symptoms, and never know they are spreading it. Live virus can transfer from hands to plastic surfaces and stay active for up to 72 hrs, where it can pass to other people. Social distancing is very important, but it does not prevent hand-to-mouth spread without other measures.

Widespread availability of hand sanitisers in shops and in the workplace is a Public Health issue that the Government should take the lead on. Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, very sensibly announced on 3/5/20 that he would like to see hand sanitiser available throughout the public transport network, and we support this. Since then nothing seems to have happened. There is a great danger that ending the lock-down will cause an increase in Covid-19 infections unless other measures such as hand sanitisers become widely available, and we call on Government to take the lead.

• Hand-to-mouth transmission of live virus is an important cause of infection
• Food packaging can carry and pass on Covid-19 infections
• Some supermarkets already offer hand sanitiser at the entrance. The cost is minimal. I've not yet met a shop that objects to this
• The NHS recommends hand sanitation to control the spread of Covid-19
• Customers overwhelmingly want to be offered hand sanitiser in shops for their and everybody else's safety
• The British Government should ensure shops can help reduce Covid-19 spread by offering hand sanitiser at their entrances, and they should help them to do so by ensuring  adequate supplies are available.
• The governments of many other countries with far lower infection rates are already doing this. Why is this Government so slow?

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