Britain's richest man, who grew up in Oldham, is to build a plant 'in 10 days' to manufacture hand sanitiser.
The hand sanitiser will be provided to hospitals free of charge, Sir Jim Ratcliffe said.
His chemicals company Ineos this morning announced (Tuesday) it planned to build a plant in Middlesbrough to address the 'critical shortage'.
It already produces some of the raw materials needed to produce hand sanitiser.
Ineos says it will build the factory to produce 1 million bottles per month within 10 days.
The sanitiser will be given to hospitals and will also be produced for personal usage.
A plant will also be built in Germany.
Sir Jim said: "It is becoming increasingly clear that hand to mouth infection is a significant cause of Corona virus contagion and INEOS is Europe’s largest manufacturer of the core ingredient of hand sanitiser.
"We will build two factories in the UK and Germany in 10 days to produce very substantial supplies.
"INEOS is a company with enormous resources and manufacturing skills. If we can find other ways to help in the coronavirus battle, we are absolutely committed to playing our part."
Billionaire Sir Jim was born in Oldham and is a Manchester United fan.
His company last year completed the takeover of French Ligue 1 side Nice.
He has long been rumoured to be interested in taking over a Premier League team.
Ineos last year took over the cycling team formerly known as Team Sky.
Sir Jim, 67, grew up in Failsworth, and set up his now huge company from scratch.
He moved to Yorkshire aged nine, and later went on to study chemical engineering at Birmingham University, before completing an MBA at London Business School.
In an interview with the M.E.N. in 2015, Sir Jim said his roots have left an impact on his work.
“Being around Manchester when I was growing up, the manufacturing situation sort of seeps into your consciousness I suppose,” he said.
"Manchester was all about manufacturing. There’s obviously a bit of the Industrial Revolution in my DNA."
