Tech Focus: Making it Safe to Live and Work in Endemic COVID

The world is coming to terms with having to live with COVID-19 for a while to come. Apart from population-level vaccination to enhance our resistance against the disease, how can we make our living and working environment safer from the SARS-COV-2 virus that causes the disease?

Jitender Khurana shares how UVC disinfection technology provides an effective means of sanitising the air and surfaces around us in an efficient and sustainable way. Most importantly, it can be implemented at scale without breaking the bank! Jitender Khurana is the Country Head & Managing Director for Singapore and Emerging Markets, Southeast Asia at Signify.

When will life go back to what it was like in pre-pandemic days? Will it ever? Image: Signify.

When will life go back to what it was like in pre-pandemic days? Will it ever? Image: Signify.

After more than two years and six million deaths globally, the world is still reeling from the humanitarian and economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. The SARS-COV-2 virus has infected almost half a billion people around the world to date, and continues to cause more than a million new cases of COVID-19 every day.

However, the pandemic shows no sign of slowing down, following the scourge of the Delta variant which swept across the earth, as well as the current Omicron variant.

“For true endemic living, I want to be able to attend concerts, work out at a gym, watch an indoor sports event and visit a public bathroom knowing that the air I’m breathing is safe from the SARS-COV-2 virus. All these aspirations can be fulfilled through air disinfection solutions harnessing UV-C technology – in conjunction with wearing masks, social distancing and vaccination.”

Even though no end is in sight for the pandemic, life and business must go on. Governments and companies need a solution that will provide employees and citizens with a safe working and public environment that is protected from COVID-19.

Like it or not, COVID-19 is not going away and all of us will have to learn how to live, work and play while the SARS-COV-2 virus hangs around us and the disease becomes endemic.

Welcome to the new normal of “Endemic Living”.

The silver lining in the cloud is that we have learnt much since the beginning of the pandemic – about the disease itself, the virus that causes it, the way it spreads, the safety measures and practices that would protect us from infection.

I believe we are ready to embark on this new phase of the pandemic, because we are equipped with the know-how and wherewithal to live safely and normally despite COVID-19. We now know that the reason COVID-19 is so contagious is that it can be transmitted over the air.

Extensive research by scientists and specialists in the medical field has found that the main mode of transmission by the virus is through the air, and the World Health Organisation and Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in the US have recognised this.

When an infected person sneezes or coughs, or simply talks or breathes, the SARS-COV-2 virus is released into the air and stays suspended and infectious in the air for minutes to hours, waiting for an unsuspecting person to come along to breathe it in.

Ultraviolet-C in the Electromagnetic Spectrum. Image: Signify.

Ultraviolet-C in the Electromagnetic Spectrum. Image: Signify.

The key to a safe living and working environment therefore lies in removing or killing these disease-causing pathogens that linger in the air around us.

The conventional way of enjoying clean air is through ventilation. Opening windows helps by changing out the air once every hour and reduces around 63% of pathogens from a room in that hour. Most ventilation systems provide up to two air changes per hour. These are insufficient for fast and effective disinfection which typically requires removal of 99.99% of pathogens through 15-20 air changes per hour – like in a commercial passenger jet.

“Because it is so effective in killing the SARS-COV-2 and its variants, I believe the use of UV-C will be key to any country or company looking to be pandemic-resilient and ready for endemic-living.”

One effective way of killing the SARS-COV-2 virus in the air (and on surfaces) is ultraviolet (UV) light. A ceiling/wall-mounted UV disinfection luminaire can achieve the equivalent effect of 20 air changes per hour. Alternatively, the UV-C device can be deployed inside air ducts.

UV light is part of the electromagnetic spectrum from 100-400nm that falls between visible violet light and X-rays. UV-C technology uses radiation in the wavelengths from 100-280nm that is highly effective in killing microbes such as viruses, bacteria, fungi, spores and mold by breaking down the DNA of these germs. It is currently already in use for treatment of water and sterilisation of objects and surfaces.

Because it is so effective in killing the SARS-COV-2 and its variants, I believe the use of UV-C will be key to any country or company looking to be pandemic-resilient and ready for endemic-living.

UV-C disinfection systems for the air have been successfully implemented in theatres in the Netherlands and changing rooms of top flight European football clubs like RB Leipzig and PSV Eindhoven; as well as stables for equine breeding in the UK.

The New Zealand government (Aviation Security Service) has deployed UV-C disinfection kits at airports across the country to help improve public health and safety.

An upper-air UV-C luminaire working unobtrusively on the ceiling, killing SARS-COV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. Image: Signify.

An upper-air UV-C luminaire working unobtrusively on the ceiling, killing SARS-COV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. Image: Signify.

In a large EDEKA Clausen supermarket in Hamburg, UV-C disinfection upper air luminaires disinfect the air in the store while customers continue to shop undisturbed underneath the irradiated zone.

These upper-air UV-C disinfection devices constantly kill the SARS-COV-2 virus and other microorganisms in the air – silently and unobtrusively – while people are still in the room, going about their usual business.

The upper-air UV-C luminaires can be installed above 2.1m and in such a way that the radiation is confined to a UV-zone above the room and away from the occupants of the room. As the air within the room is circulated – mechanically or naturally – the germs in the air are destroyed by the UV-C as they enter the UV-zone.

In tests performed by Innovative Bioanalysis in a Certified Safety Reference Laboratory in California, an upper-air UV-C device removed most of the germs (including SARS-COV-2 virus) in a room after merely two to five minutes and was found to kill 99.99% of germs in a room within 10 minutes. After 20 minutes, the virus was basically undetectable. This is equivalent in effectiveness to about 50 air changes per hour.

“The effectiveness and versatility of UV-C disinfection bodes well for organisations that need to do large-scale sanitisation of office and living spaces, as opposed to personal sanitisation on an individual basis.”

The effectiveness and versatility of UV-C disinfection bodes well for organisations that need to do large-scale sanitisation of office and living spaces, as opposed to personal sanitisation on an individual basis.

In Singapore, Changi Airport Jewel, Tan Tock Seng Hospital and some hotels have piloted UV-C disinfection systems to sanitise air and surfaces.

UV-C disinfection offers effective, fast, persistent, and chemical-free sanitisation of large facilities and does the job better than traditional forms of sanitisation eg. spraying and fumigation of chemicals-based disinfectants.

But the flip-side of UV-C’s effectiveness is that direct exposure can be harmful to humans and pets, causing skin burns and eye damage.

That’s why, recently, the NEA has rightly cautioned the public against using UV-C devices at home, because many of the products widely available online do not incorporate the necessary safety features to protect users from exposure to UV radiation.

“UV-C disinfection offers effective, fast, persistent, and chemical-free sanitisation of large facilities and does the job better than traditional forms of sanitisation eg. spraying and fumigation of chemicals-based disinfectants.”

Therefore, professional expertise and experience is important in solutioning UV-C for public and corporate facilities. Look for a reputable UV-C solutions provider that has the knowledge and competence to deploy a UV-C installation safely. In fact, NEA has advised that UV-C-based disinfection should be applied only in an industrial or commercial setting with appropriate safety features and safe use practices.

For true endemic living, I want to be able to attend concerts, work out at a gym, watch an indoor sports event and visit a public bathroom knowing that the air I’m breathing is safe from the SARS-COV-2 virus.

All these aspirations can be fulfilled through air disinfection solutions harnessing UV-C technology – in conjunction with wearing masks, social distancing and vaccination.

It looks like a long journey ahead and UV-C is going to play a key role in an effective strategy towards endemic living with COVID-19.

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6 Responses to “Tech Focus: Making it Safe to Live and Work in Endemic COVID”

  1. Roger Foo says:

    Wasn’t aware that UV can be used in large scale spaces like that and be so effective. Always thought they were for small spaces like a small room or working area … and rather danger to health!

    • tech4tea says:

      Yes, it’s been used by some buildings and infrastructure around the world. To be more specific, it’s the UV-C portion of the UV spectrum that’s being used because it’s the most effective. But yes, because it’s so effective, it can also be harmful to living things when exposed. Most are familiar with those portable consumer UV-C disinfection devices. Some of these can be quite dodgy if you don’t buy from reputable vendors, in terms of safety precautions. Used at scale, it’s even more important for the UV-C supplier to be reputable and experienced.

      • Roger Foo says:

        I’m just glad there’s actually a solution that works and that can be implemented enmasse. Hopefully governments study this and make it regulatory for buildings to have this kind of disinfection solutions.

  2. Francois Harding says:

    We need technologies and solutions like this for safe endemic living!

    • tech4tea says:

      Yes, definitely. Although the government has done a great job in achieving a high level of national vaccination, we can’t rely solely on vaccination alone, because the emergence of a new variant or virus that’s resistant to the current vaccines will just set us back to square one.

      • Francois Harding says:

        Indeed! Unfortunately i don’t see much discussions about such technologies and solutions in the media. It’s like we’ve got the vaccinations done let’s just keep our fingers crossed!

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