People are asking for more face masks and hand sanitisers because they are afraid of the coronavirus.
The spreading coronavirus has led to an increased demand in hand sanitisers and face masks as many people in Cardiff are trying to protect themselves from catching the virus.
Nikesh Patel, owner of the Canna Pharmacy in Canton, says he would probably be selling 20 face masks and up to 50 hand sanitisers per day if he had the stock.
He says they currently don’t have any face masks available and that they were able to get hold of hand sanitisers only with great difficulty. They started rationing them out to one small bottle per customer and say that they also had to increase the price from £1 to £3.50 as wholesale prices would have increased.
Experts say that the best way to protect yourself from catching the virus is to wash your hands regularly and properly.
Dr Richard Stanton, a reader in biology at The School of Medicine in Cardiff, says that hand sanitisers are “a close second” and a good option if you can’t wash your hands regularly. To be effective, he says the hand sanitisers should contain about 60 percent or more percent ethanol which makes them “kill the virus very quickly”.
When it comes to wearing a face mask, Dr Stanton says there’s not much evidence that this is an effective precaution. He says the masks don’t seal against your face very well, so the virus can still get in around the sides or the eyes which are uncovered. He also says that “as you breathe out they get wet and when they are wet they are less effective”.
But he says they might help to reduce the number of times that people touch their faces which is a common way to transfer the virus and get infected. He says they might also contribute to not spreading the virus any further if people wear them that are already infected.