Melbourne: Cricket legend Shane Warne’s distillery has started manufacturing hand sanitiser instead of gin to make up for the shortage of the alcohol-based solution and ‘save lives’ from the clutches of the COVID-19 pandemic. The disease has so far claimed over 9000 lives and infected more than 2,00,000 people across the world.
Instead of making alcohol, Warne’s company, ‘SevenZeroEight Gin’, has started producing ‘medical grade 70 % alcohol’ hand sanitiser March 17 onwards for two Western Australian hospitals.
“This is a challenging time for Australians and we all need to do what we can to help our healthcare system combat this disease and save lives,” said Warne in a statement. “I am happy ‘SevenZeroEight’ has the ability to make this shift and encourage others to do the same,” the leg-spinner added.
Australia has so far reported 565 confirmed cases besides six deaths. The rising cases have led to panic buying in some parts of Australia with hand sanitisers being the most in demand.
The deadly disease has also led to the postponement of many sports events in the country, including cricket.
Australia’s three-game ODI series against New Zealand has been called while the remainder of the Sheffield Shield (Australia’s domestic) competition has been cancelled too. The Australian women’s cricket team, that won the T20 World Cup recently, also had their limited-overs tour of South Africa cancelled.
Agencies