UK firm cleans up in China

A BRITISH supplier to the NHS is shipping disinfectant to the Chinese military to help it deal with the coronavirus crisis.

Tristel, which is listed on AIM, specialises in powerful chlorine dioxidebased disinfectant used in hospitals for surfaces and for medical instruments.

Paul Swinney, Tristel’s chief executive, said the company was approached by the Chinese military in February to use its products to help disinfect military hospitals.

The Cambridgeshire-based company let its licence expire in China, where the virus originated. However, the authorities there gave it an exemption so they could ship over its products to help tackle the crisis.

Swinney said the approval process normally takes around six months.

Infections can be transmitted by skin, air or water, but can also be passed on via medical devices and instruments or surfaces, which must be decontaminated.

Tristel uses chlorine dioxide – one of the most powerful disinfectants – to decontaminate medical instruments and surfaces in NHS hospitals and others around the world.

Swinney, who said the company has shipped several batches of its products to China since February, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘The world of disinfectants is very busy right now.’