As a result of the coronavirus disease pandemic, commercial hand hygiene 
products have become scarce and World Health Organization (WHO) alcohol-based 
hand rub formulations containing ethanol or isopropanol are being produced for 
hospitals worldwide. Neither WHO formulation meets European Norm 12791, the 
basis for approval as a surgical hand preparation, nor satisfies European Norm 
1500, the basis for approval as a hygienic hand rub. We evaluated the efficacy 
of modified formulations with alcohol concentrations in mass instead of volume 
percentage and glycerol concentrations of 0.5% instead of 1.45%. Both modified 
formulations met standard requirements for a 3-minute surgical hand preparation, 
the usual duration of surgical hand treatment in most hospitals in Europe. 
Contrary to the originally proposed WHO hand rub formulations, both modified 
formulations are appropriate for surgical hand preparation after 3 minutes when 
alcohol concentrations of 80% wt/wt ethanol or 75% wt/wt isopropanol along with 
reduced glycerol concentration (0.5%) are used.