CIE issued a statement on the use of ultraviolet radiation to manage the transmission risk of COVID-19

There is a great international interest in using ultraviolet radiation to manage / intervene the transmission risk of COVID-19, and this interest is growing rapidly as the epidemic spreads worldwide every day. Therefore, CIE issued a position statement in two CIE publications related to UV-C applications that were recently provided free of charge. In the past two months, these contents have been viewed more than 10,000 times in total.

The new CIE position statement summarizes the above two publications and gives the latest insights in this field to explain the most effective management and control of the spread of this infectious disease using ultraviolet radiation, especially UV-C (100nm to 280nm) Important aspect.

The main points of the position statement are as follows:

UV-C is extremely useful in air and surface disinfection, or water disinfection. However, CIE and WHO caution against using ultraviolet disinfection lamps to disinfect hands or any other skin area (WHO, 2020) unless clinically proven.

UV-C is very dangerous to humans and animals, so only products that comply with safety regulations can be used, or under highly controlled circumstances where safety is the first priority, ensuring that the limits specified in ICNIRP (2004) and IEC/CIE (2006) are not exceeded

UV-C will cause photodegradation of the material. This problem should be considered when the susceptible materials (such as plastics) are in the exposed environment.

There is an urgent need for more research on the safety of the new UV-C light source, especially in terms of the safety threshold for avoiding photokeratitis (corneal "sunburn", ultraviolet keratitis).

In order to carry out correct UV assessment and risk management, appropriate UV radiation measurement must be performed.