Technologists around the world are devising ways to protect health from COVID-19 in the cargo vessel environment.
Bio-UV – a specialist in systems for the treatment of water, including ballast water – has completed a prototype device for the non-touch disinfection of surfaces without using chemicals.
“The product has been designed with a view to being easy to use, mobile, light and suitable for the disinfection of all surfaces within a few seconds,” the company says.
The device emits the electromagnetic ray “ultraviolet C”, which is ultra-violet light in the 200-280 nanometre wavelength. It is present in sunlight but it is normally filtered out by the atmosphere before it reaches ground level.
Ultraviolet light B and A (UVB and UVA) is more familiar to everyday consumers as the light from the sun that is filtered out by the application of skin cream. UVB and UVA have longer wavelengths of light than UVC.
At the UV-C wavelength, ultraviolet light distorts the DNA of micro-organisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungus and parasites which prevents the micro-organism from replicating. UVC may also directly cause cell death and/or particle inactivation. Ultraviolet light also kill or inactivate micro-organisms that are resistant to antibiotics, antivirals or disinfecting chemicals.
The efficacy of the device against different types of micro-organisms is being tested at independent laboratories .
In other news, a subsidiary of the James Fisher group, a well-known provider of a wide range of maritime services and equipment, has launched the CoronaSafe detection kit.
Sold by Martek Lifecare, the company claims 97% clinical specificity and a 95% accuracy based on clinical trials of 570 patients. Results are delivered within ten minutes.
It is a finger-prick blood test and the company claims that the kit can detect antibodies to the coronavirus within 5-7 days of infection. It says that the kit can distinguish between people who have been recently infected and people who were infected in the past.
The company notes that as extensive medical research has demonstrated that, as large numbers of infected people show no symptoms, then it is impossible to know whether asymptomatic people are bringing the virus into the workplace.
