Written By: Satata Karmakar | Published : November 11, 2020 3:46 PM IST
COVID-19: Plasma jets may 'kill novel coronavirus within seconds'.
A study which suggests that plasma could promise a significant breakthrough in the fight against the spread of COVID-19 has stated that plasma jets may kill the novel coronavirus on surfaces such as metal, leather, and plastic in as a little as 30 seconds.
Plasma is one of the four basic states of matter and can be created by heating a stable gas or subjecting it to a strong electromagnetic field.
Published in the journal Physics of Fluids, the modeling study conducted in June showed strains of the novel coronavirus on surfaces like metal, leather, and plastic were killed in as little as 30 seconds of treatment with argon-fed, cold atmospheric plasma.
The researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in the US used an atmospheric pressure plasma jet they built with a 3D printer to spray surfaces that were treated with SARS-CoV-2 cultures.
The surfaces included plastic, metal, cardboard, and basketball, football, and baseball leather.
The spray using plasma fed by argon killed all the coronavirus on the six surfaces in less than three minutes, and most of the virus was destroyed after 30 seconds.
Additional testing showed the virus was destroyed in similar times on cotton from face masks.
The novel coronavirus can remain infectious on surfaces for several hours. According to the study author Richard E. Wirz, the findings show great potential for the use of plasma in halting the virus's transmission cycle.
Talking about the study and its findings, Wirz said that this is only the beginning and they are very confident and have very high expectations for plasma in future work. He also added that this study will have answers for the scientific community about plasma.
A relatively new technology, cold atmospheric plasma is an ionised, near-room-temperature gas that has proven effective in cancer treatments, wound healing, dentistry, and other medical applications.
The researchers ran a similar coronavirus test with helium-fed plasma, but the helium was not effective, even with treatments up to five minutes.
They believe this was due to lower rates of reactive oxygen and reactive nitrogen when using helium-fed gas, compared to argon.
The researchers said they are building a compact device that could be used widely to treat surfaces for the coronavirus with plasma.
It is a safer, healthier option than chemicals or other treatments, they said.
The global tally of coronavirus cases stands at 51,789,605. While 36,362,572 have recovered, 1,278,442 have died so far. The US, the worst-hit country, has 10,557,047 cases, and 245,776 have died from the disease there. It is followed by India, which has 8,636,011 cases, Brazil (5,679,212), Russia (1,817,109) and France (1,807,479).
Today is the 233rd day since India implemented a nationwide lockdown to help curb the novel coronavirus pandemic. So far, India has recorded 86,36,012 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 1,27,571 deaths. A total of 80,13,784 people have recuperated from COVID-19 so far. There are 4,94,657 active cases in the country as of date, which comprises 5.73 percent of the total caseload, the data stated. Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka have reported the highest number of cases. However, infections are rising rapidly in states like Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. Yet, India's recovery rate continues to rise and now stands at 92.79 percent. 'Unlock 5.0' is underway.
(With inputs from Agencies)
