How Chinese utilize UV lights to fight with COVID-19

A bus is disinfected by ultraviolet light on March 4, 2020.Photo: Zhang Hengwei/China News Service via Getty Images/2020 China News Service

uses ultraviolet light to disinfect banknotes at the Taiyuan branch of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank in Taiyuan, North China’s Shanxi province, on March 11, 2020. [Photo by Hu Yuanjia/For chinadaily.com.cn]

1. Ultraviolet light

The novel coronavirus is sensitive to ultraviolet light, so ultraviolet radiation can effectively eliminate the virus.

But UV lamps should not be used to sterilize hands or other areas of skin, as the radiation can cause skin irritation.

According to the latest guideline on the diagnosis and treatment of the novel coronavirus released by the National Health Commission, the virus is sensitive to ultraviolet light and heat, so ultraviolet radiation can effectively eliminate the virus.

According to the guideline, indoor spaces should be disinfected with ultraviolet light with an intensity of over 1.5 watts per cubic meter. A UV lamp can disinfect objects within one meter for at least half an hour.

Longer exposure to radiation is needed when the temperature indoors is below 20 C or above 40 C and relative humidity is over 60 percent.

A room should be ventilated after UV disinfection, and people are suggested to enter the room half an hour later.

Although UV is effective in killing the virus indoors, UV lamps should not be used to sterilize hands or other areas of skin, as the radiation can cause skin irritation.

UV light sanitizers sold to disinfect groceries are not a good first-line defense, says UV researcher

It’s amazing that people in the comments on these products say that it works so well, but they don’t really have a way to verify that it works on their groceries,

Realistically you should not be exposed to UV-C light that is powerful enough to make any kind of difference.

Grocery shopping and unpacking is another potential infection point for the novel coronavirus.

Grocery disinfection is best done with soap and water — or by just washing your own hands after touching packaging.