Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), Israel’s largest aerospace and defence company, is helping to develop prototype products to fight the coronavirus pandemic in Israel.
The company, best known for its manufacturing of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), radars and satellites, has in one week developed a machine which uses ultraviolet (UV) light to kill viruses and bacteria on surfaces in hospitals. The system utilises a large tripod fitted with fluorescent bulbs and is able to kill germs at a distance of two metres.
The device will hopefully enable medical teams to sterilise treatment rooms at a much quicker rate to ready them for future patients. It should also enable rooms to be cleaned in a much less labour intensive manner; frontline workers are currently required to use chemicals such as chlorine and alcohol to clean which is both timely and increases the risk of exposure to the virus.
The prototype is currently being tested at Israel’s Shamir Medical Center, near Tel Aviv and was developed after IAI engineers met with doctors and specialists in the field to explore where they could best assist.
If the prototype pilot is successful, the firm hopes to receive regulatory approval and to be in production within weeks.
