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Coronavirus: are Asia’s mass disinfections of public spaces helpful or hazardous?
- Workers using drones or spray guns to douse large areas with disinfectant have become a common sight amid the coronavirus pandemic
- But experts criticise such efforts as a waste of time and resources that could end up doing more harm than good for public health
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A drone dispersed clouds of disinfectant in the sky above Indonesia’s second-largest city Surabaya on Tuesday, a response to the coronavirus pandemic which is catching on around the world despite warnings from health experts.
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Mass disinfections, often by workers in protective gear resembling characters from the comedy film Ghostbusters, have become a common sight – from Turkey’s Grand Bazaar to bridges in Mexico and migrant workers in India.
But the visually impressive measures taken to contain the fast-spreading virus which has killed over 37,000 people globally, have been criticised by disease specialists as a health hazard as well as a waste of time and resources.
“It’s a ridiculous image seen in many countries,” said Dale Fisher, an infectious diseases expert in Singapore who chairs the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network coordinated by the World Health Organisation.
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“I don’t believe it adds anything to the response and could be toxic on people. The virus does not survive for long in the environment and people do not generally touch the ground.”
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