KUALA LUMPUR, April 15 — There is no evidence that disinfection chambers can reduce Covid-19 transmission, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said today.
Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the chemicals used to spray people in disinfection chambers, boxes, tunnels, booths, partitions, or gates — of which MOH has received several applications for use — could even harm mucous membranes, like one’s eyes and mouth.
A period of 20 to 30 seconds of chemical spraying is also not enough for an effective disinfection process; neither can it kill germs in the human body.
“Based on that evaluation, MOH does not encourage the use of a disinfection box, chamber, tunnel, booth, partition, or gate as a method of reducing Covid-19 infections among humans,” Dr Noor Hisham said in a statement.
Dr Jemilah Mahmood, special advisor to the prime minister on public health, told universities and companies yesterday that so-called coronavirus disinfection chambers were harmful and violated World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, after Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) announced plans to mass produce its disinfection chamber.
The WHO says that spraying alcohol or chlorine all over one’s body will not kill viruses that have already entered the body.
“Spraying such substances can be harmful to clothes or mucous membranes (i.e. eyes, mouth). Be aware that both alcohol and chlorine can be useful to disinfect surfaces, but they need to be used under appropriate recommendations,” said WHO in its Covid-19 myth busters.
