Scientists from various universities around the world, in conjunction with Israel's Technion, have proposed a solution to help prevent the spread of coronavirus, which will involve the use of ultraviolet light in indoor settings, according to a press release on Tuesday from the university.
Comprising a team of experts including Technion Prof. Ido Kaminer, Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA) Prof. Javier García de Abajo at The Institute of Photonic Sciences, ICREA professors Andreas Meyerhans (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) and Joan Rosell-Llompart (University Rovira i Virgili), together with professors Rufino Javier Hernández (University of the Basque Country), and Tilman Sanchez-Elsner (University of Southampton), the researchers are advocating for the use of ultraviolet light indoors as a "particularly efficient, easily deployable and economically affordable" way of combating coronavirus.
Publishing their findings in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Nano, the scientists note that coronavirus transmission occurs via air droplets exhaled by infected individuals and inhaled by healthy individual, in addition to it being deposited on surfaces from exhalations or hand contact.
Based on previous studies showing a stronger likelihood of virus transmission indoors, the scientists suggest that fluorescent lamps, microcavity plasmas and LEDs inside ventilation systems can be effective at deactivating both airborne and surface-deposited strains of COVID-19.
On this basis, the team argues that investing a few billion dollars in such a technology in the form of UV-C sources can help protect billions of indoor workers worldwide.
Similarly, the deployment of UV light, according to the group, can lead to a return to routine activities such as working at the office, going to school and attending entertainment events.