Reckitt to sell air sanitiser to combat flu and Covid

London — Reckitt’s Lysol disinfectant brand said on Tuesday that it would start selling in the US an “air sanitising spray” that kills 99.9% of airborne viruses and bacteria.

The spray, which Reckitt said helps reduce the spread of airborne pathogens that cause colds, influenza and Covid, has been approved by the US Environmental Protection Agency.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Reckitt, Clorox and other disinfectant makers benefited from a boom in sales of surface cleaners and wipes. At the time, there were no products suited to sanitising air, though some anxious consumers took to spraying surface cleaners into their surroundings.

“We’d actually been investigating previously around air transmission, but I would say that the inflection point was really born out of Covid,” said Chris Jones, Reckitt's category group director for research & development for Lysol and Harpic.

“We have spoken to other regulators, but I'd say at the moment that the prime focus is really making the US a success and [learning] from the US and then how we can take that elsewhere.”

The formula contains active molecules that are hygroscopic in nature, which allows the molecules to attach to micro-organisms suspended in the air. Once attached, the molecules break down the structural membrane of the micro-organism, leading to its destruction, Reckitt said.

Reuters