The British pharmacy chains have decided to remove all make-up product testers including lipstick after fears grow over the spread of coronavirus pandemic.
The decision was taken in the United Kingdom as it suffers from the COVID-19 like the rest of the world that saw over 400,000 cases till today.
Confirming the decision to a UK media outlet, both Boots and Superdrug said that the testers will be removed for the foreseeable future to help stop the spread of coronavirus, reported Mirror UK.
A spokesperson for Boots said: “To ensure the health and safety of our customers and colleagues, we introduced new guidance around the use and availability of testers in our stores. In areas where we have beauty consultants, testers have been removed from open display.
“For all other areas of beauty in our stores, including self-selection cosmetics and skincare, we have made the decision to remove all testers.
“We are continuing to make sure that hand sanitiser is available for all of our beauty advisers and customers in stores, to use after handling products. We’re also encouraging all colleagues to wash their hands regularly and have introduced additional cleaning across our beauty halls.”
Meanwhile, a Superdrug spokesperson added: “We have taken the decision to remove all product testers from stores for the foreseeable future as part of our commitment to ensuring the highest standard of safety and hygiene for our customers and colleagues. We will continue to monitor the situation, in line with government, PHE and NHS guidance around Covid-19.”
Although it is not yet confirmed as to how long virus sustain on beauty products, however, a National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) research showed that when the virus is carried by the droplets released when someone coughs or sneezes, it remains viable, or able to still infect people, in aerosols for at least three hours.
On plastic and stainless steel, the viable virus could be detected after three days. On cardboard, the virus was not viable after 24 hours. On copper, it took 4 hours for the virus to become inactivated.
