Dubai:Water treatment specialist Culligan Middle East has ramped up production of a sanitiser at its Dubai manufacturing plant to meet demand from Africa and other GCC countries.

Developed from an existing water treatment product, the hand and surface contact sanitiser was originally made for use by its own 400-strong workforce in response to the Covid-19 outbreak.

Since being introduced into the UAE market it has quickly become the company’s current best selling product, and is now in demand from buyers in Ghana, Somalia, South Africa and Uganda, as well as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

“We’ve literally quadrupled our production output, and have been working 24/7 almost exclusively to produce this product,” said Rodger Macfarlane, Technical Director of Culligan Middle East. “We’ve demonstrated that we are able to make massive quantities as required, so we’re quite well able to meet the demand we’re now seeing.”

Added Macfarlane: “Many other parts of our business have been affected by the coronavirus. We’ve got a large food service business which has been struggling because, during the lockdown, so many of our customers have been closed. We’re now helping them to reopen safely.”

“So this has been a lifeline for us. It has literally been paying the wages of our staff while other parts of our business have been very quiet.”

The secret of the sanitiser’s success is that it has a base of hypochlorous acid, a substance the body’s white blood cells produce naturally to combat infection, making it highly effective and safe.