Can innovative wearables kill the coronavirus?

Anti-viral wearables developed by Akhand Armour in Milton Keynes can help turn people into ‘human sanitising shields’ to deactivate the virus as they walk through the community.

The tools interrupt the transmission of the virus providing an immediate intervention. The result is a virus destroying “self-sanitising eco-system” which continuously neutralises infected droplets as they land.

“No shortcuts” they say, Akhand has developed a dual pathway system for enhanced virus destruction which have been tested and certified at MSL, a microbiological testing laboratory based in the UK. They are the first to achieve an ISO certification for non-medical face masks and wearables scientifically confirming the landed virus is destroyed on contact with the fabric.

Proven effective against coronaviruses, the flu and bacteria as well as a multitude of other microbes the “self-sanitising eco-system” includes face masks, sanitising face mask pocket cases, glasses cases, shopping bags and mobile phone cases. They have also developed scarf-mask hybrids (called a Scarsk™) for people who cannot get on with masks and a baby changing blanket for use in public baby changing rooms or when travelling.

“Virus neutralising technology has been around for decades,” says Akhand “This is well tested, robust tech which we have repurposed to support communities to reduce contact-based transmission”. 

Virus destroying technology

These wearables are the idea of Meena Hanspal, she explains: “As soon as infected droplets land on the wearables which are impregnated with a virus destroying tech, the outer wall of the Coronavirus is destroyed rendering it useless.

“Our methodologies neutralise the landed virus and bacteria. Killing it off means it cannot infect and cannot mutate. Not only do we mitigate contact-based transmission, we mitigate the likelihood of variants developing. By moving over to these wearables we can help reduce background virus transference by removing landed infected droplets from circulation.

“This means we’ve got ‘human virus neutralisers’ moving through the community. In the same way as people can become ‘virus transmitters’, we can turn them into ‘human virus neutralisers.’ There will be strength in numbers - the more people using the tech, the greater the shielding effect.”

Switching from widespread use of disposable face masks to widespread use of these wearables means that there is a possibility of being able to subvert the danger of becoming a ‘variant factory’. Ordinary face coverings leave the virus to be transferred from surface to surface whilst the active particle dies a very slow death. This gives the virus a chance to mutate and puts the wearer in a state of fear as they worry about touching a potentially infectious surface.