Hong Kong: You have heard of different kinds of vaccines and drugs which scientists have developed to fight the dreaded COVID-19 disease. Soon, there could be another tool available to humans.
Hong Kong researchers claim to have developed the world’s first stainless steel that kills the coronavirus within hours.
The study, published by a team of researchers at University of Hong Kong, says that the newly-developed alloy can render 99.75 per cent of the SARS-CoV-2 virus inactive within three hours and 99.99 per cent within six hours.
According to researchers, the alloy’s antimicrobial property is long-term, even if damaged during service. They say it can be produced at a low cost, using existing powder metallurgy technique.
The researchers are in talks with industrial partners to test the new alloy. Previous studies have shown that coronavirus can stay on surfaces for more than two days.
“The anti-pathogen stainless steel also exhibits an excellent inactivation ability for H1N1 influenza and Escherichia coli bacteria,” they added.
It’s surely a welcome development at a time when the Omicron variant, first detected in southern Africa last month, is spreading rapidly across the world.
