KHON KAEN, March 20 (TNA) – A disinfection tunnel has
been set up at a technical college in the northeastern province of Khon Kaen to
disinfect people with ultraviolet (UV) in an attempt to fight coronavirus.
Chum Phae Technical College has built the tunnel called
CTC-G5 UV-Ultraviolet equipped with three 30-watt UV light bulbs.
The 2-meter-tall and 1.5-meter-wide tunnel is made of metal
frame and plastic sheets.
To complete the disinfection process, people had to go
through a thermo scanner and clean their hands with sanitizer before walking
through the tunnel, according to the college staff.
The sterilizing system is part of an effort to control the
virus outbreak as hand sanitizer supplies are running low.
Ultraviolet killed viruses including the novel coronavirus
2019. But certain level of UV exposure
was harmful to human’s skin, therefore, a walk-through lasted 3-10 seconds,
they said.
Users must not directly look at the UV light bulb, they
added.
The College plans to build two more UV disinfection tunnels
for sales to private businesses.
Such effort to use UV to kill coronavirus is, however,
doubtful. Experts say concentrated UV
light can be used at extremely high intensities and certain amount of time as a
disinfectant.
An advisory by the World Health Organization (WHO) also
stated that UV lamps should not be used as a disinfectant for the coronavirus
as UV radiation can cause skin irritation. (TNA)
