A SCHOOL in York is now using a water-based hand and surface sanitiser for protection against Covid-19 - after a parent's firm found it to be "much more effective."

Andrew Hart, who has two children attending Huntington School in the city, works for MediHealth Technologies Limited, a small company which started in January last year.

The firm carried out research into both alcohol and water-based hand sanitiser - and how effective they both are in protection against not only Covid-19, but other viruses as well.

They found that water-based sanitiser can provide up to four hours of protection on the hands, compared with up to 30 seconds when using an alcohol sanitiser, and up to 24-hours protections on surfaces.

Andrew then got in touch with Huntington school, as he said he felt a "duty of care" to protect not only his own children, but other pupils as well as staff at the school against Covid-19 and other viruses.

Andrew, who lives in York, said: "I approached Huntington School as a parent to information share and they chose to do their own detailed investigation and immediately replaced their products for the safe, water based products with long term protections.

"Some people have become complacent with Covid. I don't want any commercial gain from this, it's not a sales push. There are almost 1500 pupils and over 300 staff at Huntington, so I felt a duty of care.

"I've lived in this city for all of my life, I want parents in the area to be able to make their own decisions on what their children are putting on their hands to protect them.

"The water-based sanitisers have drastically reduced transmissions at Huntington, so I think this information needs to be shared."

After Andrew informed the school on the benefits of using the water based, independent accredited, certificated and halal registered hand and surface products, staff began fogging classrooms with it and offering it to pupils and staff to use on their hands for protection against Covid-19.

Matt Smith, acting headteacher at Huntington School, said: "As a school, we were happy to move towards a water-based sanitiser. We were impressed with the residual efficacy protection and the fact that fewer applications were needed for protection.

"For us at Huntington School, it’s an important part of mitigating the risk of virus transmission, alongside face coverings, adequate ventilation, regular cleaning and asymptomatic testing."

Andrew said that there are also dangers of repeated use of alcohol hand sanitisers, such as damage to the skin which can reduce its ability to work as a barrier against Covid-19 and other viruses - or they can cause breaks in the skin opening it to infection.

For further details on the water-based sanitiser, visit the MediHealth Technologies Limited website or email the team on: info@medihealth.tech