New Delhi: Amid Coronavirus outbreak, demand for so-called ‘Halal hand sanitizer’ increases in Malaysia.
As consumption of alcohol is prohibited in Islam, Muslims are avoiding using it even as a hand sanitizer.
The products that are being sold as ‘Halal hand sanitizer’ are made up of ‘ethanol’ instead of ‘alcohol’.
However, it is a known fact that alcohol destroys the protein envelope that surrounds coronavirus thereby killing the virus.
What does Islam say?
As per Islam, consumption of alcohol is prohibited. However, in the case of sanitizer, alcohol is being used as a medicine to kill the virus which is not prohibited in Islam.
Coronavirus globally
The number of novel coronavirus cases globally stood at 189,680 with 7,813 deaths, across 146 countries and territories at 1700 GMT on Tuesday.
China — excluding Hong Kong and Macau — where the outbreak emerged in late December, has to date declared 80,881 cases, including 3,226 deaths, with 68,869 people recovered.
The worst-hit nation after China is Italy with a total of 2,503 deaths (31,506 cases), Iran with 988 fatalities (16,169 cases), Spain with 491 deaths (11,178 cases) and France with 148 deaths (6,633 cases).