As South Africa gets to grips with the current Covid-19 emergency, ozone gas is in high demand because enclosed spaces treated with this natural disinfectant are immediately safe to reoccupy.
That’s according to Ian Wright, founder of GetOzone and one of the country’s leading suppliers of ozone-based green technologies increasingly being used to disinfect indoor spaces where South Africans gather such as places of worship, factories and transport facilities.
In addition, Wright says ozone can safely be used to treat any surface that may be suspected of harbouring the Covid-19 virus such as those found in shipping containers arriving from overseas, hotel rooms previously occupied by tourists, and medical vehicles used to transport infected people.
“We’re experiencing unprecedented demand for our ozone-based room purifiers, in particular,” says Wright. “These units use ozone gas to quickly disinfect air in an enclosed space without having to use chlorine.”
Ozone is 2,5 times stronger than chlorine, a common disinfectant notorious for leaving a long-lasting and dangerous residue, adds Wright. Ozone is safe and works 3 000 times faster than chlorine because it kills pathogens on contact. It is a naturally-occurring disinfectant well-suited for home and work treatment and was approved as far back as 1999 as a disinfectant by the American Food & Drug Administration.
“Ozone’s strength is that it reverts back to oxygen rapidly after it has disinfected air and water. This makes it well-suited to rapidly-disinfecting enclosed spaces that need to be almost immediately occupied again like hotel rooms and airport lounges,” says Wright.
While there is no evidence Covid-19 is being spread by contaminated food, Mr Wright says ozone-based “Airzone Ecoblasters” are also in high demand during the current emergency. These devices are commonly used in the food industry for curing, greening and processing, as well as in cold rooms and cheese manufacturing for the prevention and control of bacteria, mould and fungal spores.
“Ozone has been used for decades in the US as a well-documented, highly-effective safe and natural purification process for both water and air. From being a tool in the quest for sustainable living, ozone is now a weapon in the quest for our very survival,” says Wright.