Hand sanitizer or hand washing: which is better against coronavirus?

As the public and governments grapple with understanding Covid-19 and how to curb its spread, sales of hand sanitizer gel have soared. In the UK, some supermarkets have already run out and Boots is rationing purchases to two bottles a customer. But is hand gel really effective against coronavirus? And, if so, should we be making our own if it is not available in the shops or online?

Hand sanitizer is not new. In 1966, , a student nurse from Bakersfield, California, patented the idea of an alcohol-based gel to clean hands in the absence of handwashing facilities. However, it was not until the in 2009 that the product went from