KATE: GERM-FIGHTING GLOVES

Cornelia James Imogen Glove, £95, buybritain.com Both the Duchess of Cambridge and the Queen wear gloves from Cornelia James, some of which are made from fabric treated with an anti-microbial coating called heiQ Viroblock, which ‘uses a combination of silver and vesicle technology to promote the rapid breakdown of viruses and microbes on contact’. it claims the technology has been shown by the Doherty institute of Melbourne, Australia, to reduce the presence of the Covid-19 virus on fabric by 99.99 per cent within 30 minutes. EXPERT VERDICT: ‘wearing gloves creates a physical barrier to stop viruses getting on to the hands, but gloves still carry any germ you come into contact with and transmit it if you then touch your face,’ says Professor Martin Loessner, a microbiologist and specialist in microbial textiles at Eth Zurich in Switzerland. ‘this is why doctors dispose of their gloves regularly. the theory is that the antimicrobial coating [on these gloves] allows the surface to clean itself. the heiQ uses a mix of a waxy “vesicle” compound — which sticks to the virus, damaging its outer membrane — and silver, which inactivates it.

‘there are hundreds of studies that support the anti-microbial power of silver and many trials on the heiQ technology used here. the recent study by the Doherty institute, which looked at a polyester fabric treated with this technology, is particularly interesting.’