Covid-19 may have had a devastating impact on our lives and the economy, but it has given engineers around the world a fresh reason to develop new solutions in response to sharp rises in public demand. Ideas are one thing, but as with developing a vaccine, putting them into action takes time.

With local and national transport networks ramping up their efforts to minimise the spread of coronavirus, and public anxiety surrounding the disease at an all-time high, the situation has forced firms from across all sectors to innovate. To quote Brené Brown, “Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change” and this is already happening with the likes of Dyson and Ford redeploying their core resources to help develop much-needed equipment, much like in WW2.

Aseptic explain how COVID-19 will change the future of public transport.

How Covid-19 Will Change Public Transportation

Epidemiologists estimate the coronavirus can live on metal surfaces for up to three days, so the type of material used in public transport networks has to be taken into consideration. In response to these findings, Transport networks are testing a wide range of disinfectants and developing enhanced cleaning programmes, coaching their staff to ensure good hand hygiene for themselves and the general public.


Can UV kill coronavirus?

One place that people come in contact with the most is escalators. While there is widespread information and misinformation about the effectiveness of UV light in killing viruses, one thing that is undisputed is that it can cause cancer if in direct contact with the skin. There is also scientific evidence from the US National Library of Medicine that UV radiation kills viruses by chemically modifying their genetic material. Therefore, an innovation that harnesses the power of UV, but in a way that doesn’t come in contact with any person has potential to drastically decrease infection rates in a cost-effective way.


Keep your escalator and moving walkway handrails clean all day with UV

Most, if not all, escalators are only sanitised a few times a day through the use of chemical cleaning fluid, leaving public handrails at risk of spreading harmful germs and viruses. With this in mind, GHI Architectural Solutions are proud to introduce a new solution to South Africa: The ClearWin UVC escalator steriliser system. Our unique, sterilising system, for escalator and moving walkway handrails, is capable of reducing the spread of germs and viruses by killing 99.9% of germs held on fomite surfaces.

Our light-based system is harmless to the human body with zero chemicals or heavy metals being involved and no UVC rays coming into contact with human skin. The steriliser is just half the size of a piece of A4 paper and can be attached to a standard escalator without making changes to the existing facility.