A family that was unable to buy coronavirus hand sanitizer because all the shops had sold out used their own supply of whiskey to do the job.

Josephine Fremista, 66, poured bottles of spirits into a large dispenser for her and her relatives to use to clean their hands at their home in Marikina City in Manila, the Philippines. 

Alcohol-based hand sanitisers can quickly reduce the number of microbes on hands in some situations - helping to prevent coronavirus infections. 

However, it's not clear how effective homemade hand sanitizer, or sanitizer recipes can be as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDP) recommends that products contain at least 40% alcohol.

Josephine said: ''We can't find any hand santiser in the shops, so this makes us feel better. Since people always come to our shop, we're worried about catching the virus. 

''We keep refilling this tower every time it's empty so there's plenty for us to clean our hands with.''

The capital Metro Manila region will have a ''community lockdown''  from March 15 to April 14, which prevents land, domestic air, and domestic sea travel to and from the capital region. It will confine more than 12 million people to the area.

Many people are stocking up on food, toilet paper, alcohol and other items for the home, leading to shortages caused by panic buying.

The Philippines has suffered 64 cases along with eight deaths as of March 14.

The actual total could be higher as official stats don't include those who are tested privately or self-medicate at home without coronavirus testing.

A family that were unable to buy coronavirus hand sanitiser because all the shops had sold out used their own supply of liquor.

Josephine Fremista, 66, poured bottles of whiskey into a large dispenser that herself and her relatives can use to clean their hands at their home in Marikina City in Manila, the Philippines. 

Alcohol-based hand sanitisers can quickly reduce the number of microbes on hands in some situations - helping to prevent coronavirus covid-19 infections. 

However, it's not clear how effective homemade hand santiser, or santizer, recipes can be as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDP) recommends that products contain at least 40% alcohol.

Josephine said: ''We can't find any hand santiser in the shops, so this makes us feel better. Since people always come to our shop, we're worried about catching the virus. 

''We keep refilling this tower every time it's empty so there's plenty for us to clean our hands with.''

The capital Metro Manila region will have a ''community lockdown''  from March 15 to April 14, which prevents land, domestic air, and domestic sea travel to and from the capital region. It will confine more than 12 million people to the area.

Many people are stocking up on food, toilet paper, alcohol and other items for the home, leading to shortages caused by panic buying.

The Philippines has suffered 64 covid-19 cases along with eight deaths as of March 14. The actual total could be higher as official stats don't include those who are tested privately or self-medicate at home without coronavirus testing.

ENDS