Coronavirus: Share price of Kiwi hand sanitiser company skyrockets after 'testing 99.99% effective'

The share price of Kiwi hand sanitiser company Zoono has soared more than 200 per cent following the coronavirus outbreak spreading throughout the world.

Zoono says the virus, which first broke out in Wuhan, China, has seen a steep spike in sales of its sanitiser product in the last week.

The company released an announcement to the Australian Stock Exchange confirming its product had been tested and proven to protect against Covid-19.

E-commerce sales of the $6 sanitiser had increased to $100,000 a day, up from about $20,000 per month, it said.

Zoono's sanitiser is made in Auckland and the company has a distribution agreement with Eagle Health Holdings Limited, which has ramped up its export volumes into its pharmaceutical facility in Xiamen, China, where the company is labelling the product and sending it out to more than 30,000 stores in that country.

The biotech company's sanitiser is said to use a process called lysis, which forms a protective barrier that kills pathogens on contact.

It was tested against bovine coronavirus in 2012, but had been retested to against the latest Covid-19 strain, the ASX announcement said.

On the same day of the announcement, its shares shot up by 17 per cent, and a further 19 per cent the following day. Over the past month the company's share price has increased by 250 per cent and last traded at A$2.25.

Sales of Zoono's sanitiser products have gone through the roof. Photo / Screenshot

Sales of Zoono's product have soared this year. The company now has a tab on its online store called "Outbreak prevention", which takes the user through to its range of hand sanitisers, body wipes and a sanitiser surface spray.

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C O R O N A V I R U S N E W S |⠀⠀ Did you know the #coronavirus can live on infected surfaces for up to 9 days?⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ A single application of Zoono All-Purpose Surface Sanitiser offers up to 30 days of protection!⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ It’s food-safe & can even be applied to toys.⠀⠀ ⠀ 🦠Results show that Zoono Surface Sanitiser is 99.99% effective against COVID-19🦠⠀ ⠀⠀ Get yours now & keep healthy💙 ⠀ #coronavirus #coronavirusaus #coronavirusnews #healthy #hygienic #zoono 📸 @shoutandco

A post shared by 𝗭𝗢𝗢𝗡𝗢 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗚𝗲𝗿𝗺𝘀 (@zoonoglobal) on Feb 28, 2020 at 12:04am PST

In February, the company said its online sales were averaging between $30,000 and $50,000 per day and its cash resources had increased by more than 20 per cent to $4 million since the beginning of the year.

Zoono is now planning to move to a new warehouse and office facility, and is in the process of hiring more staff, to meet demand for its product.