Lanxess AG (Cologne, Germany; www.lanxess.com) has announced that it is working to increase supply of its high-level disinfectant Rely+On Virkon, which is thought to be effective against the coronavirus. The product is used for hard surface and equipment disinfection. Anneliese Bischof, Head of the Disinfectants Business at LANXESS: “Following the outbreak of the coronavirus, we are seeing increased demand for Rely+On Virkon in China and other countries around the globe. We are therefore currently working intensively to optimally align our production and logistics capacities to deliver additional product quantity to this region as quickly as possible.”
Independent tests have proven that Rely+On Virkon inactivates a closely related surrogate of the currently spreading coronavirus strain. “From these tests it can be concluded that Rely+On Virkon is also effective against 2019-nCoV,” Bischof said.
In independent tests Rely+On Virkon achieved inactivation of the coronavirus strain at a 1:100 dilution rate with a 10-minute contact time. This corresponds to test conditions required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and proves the performance and suitability of Rely+On Virkon for practical use.
The coronavirus continues to spread. Authorities around the world are therefore tightening measures to stop the further spread of the lung disease. With no vaccine available, disinfection is of the utmost importance.