Business Sector Reminded to Use 70% Alcohol Hand Sanitiser
- Municipal inspections reveal certain level of non-compliance
The Manzini business sector is reminded about the importance of ensuring hand sanitisers that are applied to customers and members of staff meet the 70 percent alcohol content requirement as set by the World Health Organisation (WHO). This will contribute to achievement of progress in the fight against the 2nd wave of the Covid-19 virus. The Municipality continues to conduct inspections amongst the city’s business establishments; the purpose being to ascertain compliance to basic Covid-19 virus preventative protocols including wearing of face masks, keeping at least one metre physical distance from the next person, temperature screening of customers as well as either the use of 70% alcohol based hand sanitiser or washing of hands with soap and running water. As a result of the inspections, the Municipality has discovered that whilst some business establishments are compliant, others continue to use hand sanitisers that are below standard in terms of alcohol content. A total of 35 business establishments have had their hand sanitisers tested in the last three weeks and out of those, only 49% were found to be using the appropriate quality. The rest were mostly using hand sanitisers whose alcohol content ranged between 60 and 69 percent whilst a few others were even further away from the set standard. This is cause for concern for the reason that a hand sanitiser that does not meet the set alcohol content is not 100% effective in killing the virus and such jeopardises prospects of winning the fight against Covid-19 virus.
The Municipality calls on all business establishments to make an effort towards total compliance. During the inspections the business sector has been asked as to the reasons for non-compliance; and the response that has been largely given is that their suppliers claim that the product does meet the 70 percent standard. Another thing that the Municipality has observed is that some business operators dilute the hand sanitisers and in the process compromise the alcohol strength therein. In other instances the container’s lid is not tightly sealed after opening; which allows the alcohol to gradually evaporate. Otherwise, the Municipality has observed a high level of improvement amongst the business sector in relation to practising physical distancing, temperature screening and wearing of face masks by both customers and employees; and this is commended. Members of the public are also urged to avoid unnecessary travel but stay home as much as possible in order to minimise the spread of the virus. They are also urged to continue practising the Covid-19 virus preventative measures as advised by the Ministry of Health and the WHO.
…MANZINI MUNICIPALITY NOW OFFERS SANITISER TESTING SERVICES
- Individual citizens and business sector urged to make use of the service
Owing to an observation of a level of non-compliance with regard to the quality of hand sanitisers that are being applied to customers by the business sector, the Municipal Council of Manzini has procured a testing equipment that is used to measure the alcohol content in hand sanitisers. The testing equipment avails the results within a few minutes. Through its laboratory, the Municipality has since started offering a hand sanitiser testing service to citizens of Manzini and surrounding areas. The service is accessible at a fee of E30 per sample. Individual citizens who prefer to use their own hand sanitisers as well as the business sector are encouraged to make use of the service. According to the Covid-19 virus Disaster Management Regulations, the Municipality has the right to order a business to close shop for non-compliance.
…SERVICE DELIVERY CONTINUES IN MANZINI CITY
The Municipal Council of Manzini continues to deliver quality service despite some employees working remotely for purposes of observing physical distancing and preventing a spread of the Covid-19 virus in the workplace. Since the announcement of a partial lockdown by the National Government as a measure to suppress the 2nd wave of Covid-19 virus, which presently sweeps across the globe, employees of the Municipality are working remotely and on a rotational basis. The following photos were taken in the last two days…