Predicting airborne coronavirus inactivation by far-UVC in populated rooms using a high-fidelity coupled radiation-CFD model
View/ Open
Publisher
Journal
Scientific Reports
ISSN
2045-2322
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
There are increased risks of contracting COVID-19 in hospitals and long-term care facilities, particularly
for vulnerable groups. In these environments aerosolised coronavirus released through breathing
increases the chance of spreading the disease. To reduce aerosol transmissions, the use of low dose
far-UVC lighting to disinfect in-room air has been proposed. Unlike typical UVC, which has been used to
kill microorganisms for decades but is carcinogenic and cataractogenic, recent evidence has shown that
far-UVC is safe to use around humans. A high-fidelity, fully-coupled radiation transport and fluid dynamics
model has been developed to quantify disinfection rates within a typical ventilated room. The model
shows that disinfection rates are increased by a further 50-85% when using far-UVC within currently
recommended exposure levels compared to the rooms’ ventilation alone. With these magnitudes of
reduction, far-UVC lighting could be employed to mitigate SARS-CoV-2 transmission before the onset of
future waves, or the start of winter when risks of infection are higher. This is particularly significant in
poorly-ventilated spaces where other means of reduction are not practical, in addition social distancing
can be decreased without increasing the risk.