Coronavirus: How To Create A Safer And Healthier Environment For Everybody

By SAMUEL M. WAMBUGU

One of the MAJOR REASONS why coronavirus pandemic/disease is spr eading (despite all the efforts and campaigns about washing of hands with soap and water, use of alcohol-based sanitizers, use of masks, social distancing and other behavioural changes) is MONEY changing hands between/amongst the coronavirus positive people and those that are negative (uninfected)!!! Paper money (notes) is the main agent but coins are also to blame!!! Imagine how many people touch the same UNSANITISED paper money note or coin in a day.

Just think of the things/devices that you touch or handle in a day: Remote Controls, Tablets & iPads, Laptops & Keyboards, Telephone Handsets, Desktops, Tables & Other Surfaces, Calculators & Mobile Phones and Phone Chargers, Eyeglasses & Pens, etc. Mobile phones in particular are very notorious culprits in spreading diseases! We bring our smart phones with us everywhere. They sit in our pockets, in our handbags, rest on tables, and even get used in the bathroom! Your fingers touch your smartphone constantly. You pull out your phone to take photos all over, like restaurants, bars, and in the street. People even use their phones in public toilets! Simply SPEAKING INTO YOUR PHONE or texting can coat your phone with bacteria and viruses! And OTHER people’s fingers touch them and disaster strikes.

These huge number of devices, surfaces, and many more that you touch every day of the week have the potential to be disease carriers.

Our government should MAKE IT MANDATORY for financial institutions (mainly banks and mobile money vendors like Mpesa agents) to USE UV LIGHT TO FIGHT SPREAD OF GERMS AND VIRUSES. These financial institutions should be equipped with UV gadgets to sanitize all moneys passing through them. The government should also immediately make available these UV gadgets to all public service vehicles including buses, matatus, passenger trains and also open up sanitization “shops” in every town and village where people (particularly bodaboda operators) can go and sanitise their money.

“By attacking the cell walls of bacteria and viruses, the UV light technology renders them unable to reproduce, consequently eliminating them altogether.”

UV-C light is germicidal – i.e., it deactivates the DNA of bacteria, viruses and other pathogens and thus destroys their ability to multiply and cause disease. Specifically, UV-C light causes damage to the nucleic acid of microorganisms by forming covalent bonds between certain adjacent bases in the DNA. The formation of such bonds prevents the DNA from being unzipped for replication, and the organism is unable to reproduce. In fact, when the organism tries to replicate, it dies.

This pathogen eliminator gadgets fight bacteria and viruses to improve your transport, household and office hygiene. You need not use any dangerous chemicals, wipes, or harsh detergents. Simply “swipe away pathogens with light” and sanitize all your money and devices!

These sanitary devices can even eliminate mold and fungus from appliances and surfaces, plus allergy-inducing microorganisms, which can only mean fewer trips to the doctors and most importantly, AVOID CONTRACTING THE DEADLY CORONAVIRUS!!! The UV technology used ensures that the bacteria’s or viruse’s DNA is completely destroyed, which in technical terms, deactivates the bacteria or virus, leaving it dead and unable to cause any health worries to those around it.

Doctors and nurses who work with contagious diseases know the value of washing their hands. But there is always the risk of infection.

Hospitals around the world have started using UV light, working to reduce bacterial pathogens on their medical devices, as well as sanitize cell phones and other devices that can cause disease.

Writer is a Senior Research Scientist.
MANAGER: Technology Transfer & Business Development Services (TTBDS).