Scientists Create Face Mask That Kills 80% Coronavirus In 8 Hours
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has made masks a necessity. As vaccination rates go up, face masks are becoming a marker of one's style preferences more than serving as just protective gear.?
While it's easy to forget the important role played by face masks in preventing transmission of viral infections like COVID-19, people who do abide by the mask are less likely to fall sick.?
Now, researchers from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) have weaponised the mask further against COVID-19.?
Coronavirus killing face mask
Using silver and copper nanolayers, scientists created a mask capable of killing coronavirus.Announced in the university's official gazette on Thursday, the triple-layered facemask is called "SakCu".?
In Mayan, "Sak" refers to silver while Cu is the chemical symbol for copper.The mask was tested in real time by scientists using drops of virus from patients who had tested positive for the virus at the Hospital Juarez in Mexico.?
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The drops were then placed on the silver-copper film which was deposited in polypropylene.?
The findings were astounding! In case the viral concentration was high, the virus disappeared by over 80 per cent in less than eight hours. In other cases where the viral load was low, the virus RNA disappeared in less than two hours.?
SakCu is also safer to dispose
According to the gazette, the the silver-copper nanolayer was able to break the membrane of COVID-19, damaging its RNA.?
Worried about cross contamination from the mask? Worry not, researchers claim that even if you threw out SakCu, it will not remain contaminated like other masks.?
Also read:?Scientists Invent Face Mask That Tells If You Have Covid-19 In 90 Minutes
One mask may be washed and used up to 10 times before it loses its virus killing properties.?
Sadly, you may not be able to use the mask anytime soon as they are able to produce only 200 of the masks each day.?The research was fronted by UNAM's Materials Research Institute and is awaiting peer review.?
