Germicidal ultraviolet light can quickly and safely destroy pathogens, including COVID-19 quickly, safely and efficiently.
Also known as UV-C, GUV or UVGI, short wavelength ultraviolet light is very effective in indoor settings against airborne viruses, with a range of solutions to continuously disinfect the air in indoor environments, even while they are occupied and in-use.
This includes busy, occupied spaces such as classrooms, factories, food processing facilities, hospital wards, dental surgeries, train carriages and offices.
Used for decades to ensure clean air in laboratories, food handling facilities and hospitals around the world, UV-C air disinfection systems are recognised as an effective, safe and reliable method of infection control.
The effectiveness of UV-C against a wide range of illnesses has been proven by more than 4,000 scientific papers and studies and recent studies have shown it can also quickly kill COVID-19.
Health authorities around the world now recognise that COVID-19 is primarily spread through airborne microdroplets or aerosols which, in the right conditions, can linger in the air for up to 16 hours and travel up to eight metres from an infected person.
Adequate air ventilation through a window or mechanical air ventilation systems can reduce viral loads depending on flow rate, filtration quality and dispersion coverage, but in most interior environments where adequate ventilation can’t be guaranteed or where ventilation would reduce indoor temperatures to unacceptable or more infectious levels, properly engineered UV-C air disinfection is the best solution to reducing viral infection risk.
There are three main types of UV-C air disinfection systems:
- Passive upper-room emitters, where UV-C lights are mounted above head height and angled to shine light upwards where it cannot shine directly on people. In this way, the light disinfects the warmer air which rises to the ceiling, including air which has been exhaled by people in the room. These are perfect for smaller buildings and should be commonly used within all infectious environments
- Active upper-room emitters, where UV-C lights are mounted above head height to walls or ceilings and angled to shine light upwards where it cannot shine directly on people. Unlike passive devices, active emitters also circulate the air to draw large volumes of air toward the UV-C light. These devices can disinfect the air on an industrial scale, disinfecting thousands of cubic metres of air in minutes. These are used in high risk viral load environments where infection risk is extremely high and rapid intervention is crucial to human safety and mission critical operations.
- UV-C can also be fitted inside air circulation systems including wall or ceiling mounted units, or existing HVAC systems. With UV-C shining on the air as it is drawn through the system, large volumes of air can be disinfected quickly, making this suitable for a wide range of large and small indoor environments.
A properly engineered and installed UV-C air disinfection system, as manufactured by our partners, can disinfect a roomful of air continuously every fifteen minutes, preventing viral microdroplets from building in concentration and reducing the risk of viral transmission.
To find out more about UV-C / GUV and its effectiveness against a range of pathogens including COVID-19, please refer to visit our How it Works page.
