'Air sanitizing spray' effective against coronavirus launched

Reckitt’s Lysol disinfectant brand said on Tuesday that it would start selling in the U.S. an “air sanitizing spray” that kills 99.9% of airborne viruses and bacteria including coronavirus.

The spray, which Reckitt said helps reduce the spread of airborne pathogens such as cold, Influenza and Coronavirus, has been approved by the U.S. 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 sanitizing 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,” Chris Jones, Reckitt’s category group director for R&D for Lysol & Harpic.

“We have spoken to other regulators, but I’d say at the moment that the prime focus is really making the U.S. a success and (learning) from the U.S. 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 microorganisms suspended in the air.

Once attached, the molecules break down the structural membrane of the microorganism, leading to its destruction, Reckitt said.