New antivirus measures found

RESEARCH: UVC LAMPS, HEATED NICKEL AIR FILTERS

Surface coating reduces amount of a coronavirus by 90%.

It’s become a familiar mantra: masks, hand-washing and physical distancing can slow the spread of the coronavirus while work continues on developing the vaccines and treatments needed to rid the world of its threat.

But as tens of millions of people return to public transit, workplaces and schools, are these interventions enough?

Researchers are increasingly looking at the pandemic through the lens of engineering, devising ways to make indoor environments safer. Here’s a preview of what’s in store.

Heated nickel air filters: Scientists are getting more worried about the potential airborne spread of the coronavirus, at distances far greater than the two meters of spacing urged by guidelines.

Certain superspreading events, such as a choir practice in Washington state in the spring, appeared to involve so-called microdroplets that became suspended in the air.

High-efficiency particulate air filters are used widely in hospitals, biocontainment laboratories and aeroplanes. These use a fan to draw air through felt-like filters to capture the tiniest of microbes.

A research team at the Texas Centre for Superconductivity at University of Houston and Galveston National Laboratory has now demonstrated the efficiency of a new type of filter based on an ultra-fine foam made of nickel.

By heating the foam to 200ºC, the researchers eliminated 99.8% of airborne Sars-CoV-2 virus from a room on first pass.

New UV technology: Lamps that operate on a particular area of the ultraviolet spectrum known as UVC have long been used to kill bacteria, viruses and moulds, notably in hospitals.

But direct exposure to UVC is dangerous because the rays cause skin cancer and eye problems – so they can only be used once people leave.

Researchers at Columbia University have been working on a new type of UVC lamp, whose shorter wavelength of 222 nanometres makes them safe for humans but lethal to microbes.

Last month, the team published a paper in the journal Scientific Reports showing their technology killed 99.9% of coronaviruses present in airborne droplets.

Antiviral coatings: An antiviral coating made of quaternary ammonium polymer, developed by Allied BioScience, reduced the amount of a coronavirus closely related to Sars-CoV-2 on a surface by 90% in 10 minutes. –

Picture: Reuters A car between graves at Vila Formosa cemetery during the coronavirus pandemic in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The picture was taken with a drone.