Covid-19: UV lamps, a viable solution to destroy the virus indoors?

the essential
In the United States, researchers have measured the effectiveness of UV-C ultraviolet rays in eliminating viruses located in interior spaces. In a study published on March 23, they claim that this technology kills 98% of viruses in one room without any harmful effects for humans.

From ultraviolet lamps to improve the microbiological quality of indoor air and thus fight once morest Covid-19 ? Far of the project of the former President of the United States, Donald Trumpwhich suggested in April 2020 to bring “light inside the body”, scientists from Columbia University (USA) claim that certain UV rays are capable of purify interior spaces.

According to a study published on March 23 on the platform of scientific journals Scientific Reportsthe light “FAR-UVC” from its name, might be used through what are called excimer lamps, hanging from the ceilings of the rooms. This tool would kill 98% of germs present in a room in just 5 minutes, without having the slightest adverse effect on humans.. “The use of this technology might help prevent the transmission of Covid-19its variants, as well as influenza or measles”, says Professor David Brenner, director of the radiological research center at Columbia University, and co-author of the study, to Telangana Today. According to the researchers, this technology remains “easy to install and inexpensive”.

Expertise for air purification?

This ultraviolet light remains “particularly suitable for premises which cannot easily ventilate rooms open to the public, comments to The Midi Dispatch Antoine Flahault, epidemiologist and director of the Institute of Global Health at the University of Geneva. Especially since UV-C techniques are parsimonious in terms of energy consumption.”

According to the professor, the authorities must jump at the opportunity to take up the question of the indoor air purification. “What should now be organized without delay is the convening of a expertise collective which might be international or at least European on the subject of improving the microbiological quality of indoor air, says the epidemiologist. It is in closed, crowded and poorly ventilated rooms that the majority of contamination occurs. It is these same premises that must benefit as a priority from future investments in terms of ventilation, filtration and purification of indoor air.”

The stakes are all the greater since as of January 1, 2023, a Indoor Air Quality Action Plan (QAI) will require all establishments open to the public to measure the air quality of their buildings.

A UV lamp, how does it work?

Ultraviolet light is not visible to the naked eye. The light emitted by an ultraviolet lamp has a shorter wavelength than the light we can see. This type of light is also high in energy and can thus trigger chemical reactions. So-called far-range UV-C lights can thus disinfect the air and surfaces, eradicating viruses and fungi by breaking RNA and DNA bonds.

Furthermore, far UVC light has a shorter wavelength than conventional germicidal UVC, so it cannot penetrate living human skin cells or eye cells.