BENGALURU: Diageo India , the liquor firm that sells McDowell’s whisky and Smirnoff vodka, announced that it will produce 3 lakh litres of hand sanitizers to help overcome shortage of the product in the country due to the Covid-19 outbreak.The liquor firm’s 15 manufacturing units are being repurposed to manufacture hand sanitisers and donation of extra neutral alcohol (ENA), according to a stock exchange filing by the company. Health insurance cover to on-trade partners and donation of free masks to public health departments are also part of the action plan to support the bar and restaurant communities facing challenges from the impact of the novel corona virus.Diageo India said it will donate about 150,000 masks to five of state’s public health departments across the country for use by health care professionals and caregivers of patients. Additionally, a Rs 30 million health insurance cover has been allocated for bartenders associated with their in-house programme in India.“The demand for sanitisers is increasing by the hour, and we would like to use our manufacturing units to join in the effort to fill the demand-supply gap for sanitisers. Healthcare providers are at the forefront of this fight, and donating masks is a token of our appreciation for their selfless dedication to fighting the epidemic,” said Anand Kripalu, CEO of Diageo India, in the regulatory filing.This move also comes in time with the central government’s appeal to distilleries in the country to make hand sanitisers as an effort to compensate short supply during this pandemic. Other distillers in India such as Amrut Distilleries , Radico Khaitan and John Distilleries are also seeking fast track approvals from drug controllers to manufacture hand sanitisers in the wake of novel corona virus outbreak.