Researchers at Cambridge University and Addenbrooke’s Hospital believe that air filters can improve the safety on hospital ‘surge wards,’ as well as improve air quality and reduce airborne transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and other bioaerosols.
Although the current study has been conducted on a limited platform, Dr Andrew Conway Morris, from the Cambridge University Department of Medicine, said that he had no idea how effective air filtration systems could be in removing the SARS-CoV-2 virus from the air.
The study used portable air filtration and ultra-violet light sterilisation units on wards that were used to treat Covid-19 patients, but which had not been designed to accommodate those suffering from respiratory infections.
To study the units effectiveness, they chose a busy time on the wards to simulate a ‘Covid Winter Wave,’ and installed ‘high efficiency particle air filtration/UV steriliser devices, whose filtration component is made up of thousands of fibres knitted together to form a particle filter. The devices were then installed in several positions throughout the ward, and kept running for seven days, therefore effectively filtering the air of each test ward between five and ten times an hour.
Air samples were then installed in different locations around the rooms, and these samples were then tested for the SARS-CoV-2 virus; and the results were astounding , and have given the teams an amazing insight into how the Covid virus could possibly be controlled.
To read the full article, please visit https://news.sky.com/story/researchers-find-way-to-filter-coronavirus-particles-out-of-the-air-12469882
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
