COVID-19: Containment box jointly developed by IIT Ropar to protect health workers

The Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar on Monday said it has jointly developed with private hospital DMC a containment box to protect frontline health workers in the fight against COVID-19.

The aerosol containment box has a design that can allow it to be converted into a negative pressure chamber by connecting the vacuum from the wall-gas supplies which are readily available in most hospitals, said a release issued by the IIT Ropar.

"The aerosol particles are passed through a micron level filter before being passed out to atmospheric air which are standard fittings in most hospital vacuums," it said.

This box has been tested at Dayanand Medical College & Hospital (DMCH) in Ludhiana for its aerosol containment capability.

"Patient comfort has been validated through volunteers lying with the box over their heads for more than one hour. They did not feel claustrophobic and their oxygen saturation levels remained normal throughout the test.

"The advantage of this design is that it can be made and deployed very easily by hospitals themselves without depending on any external supply chains many of which are broken due to lockdowns around the country," it said.

Researchers said there is a need to use multiple methods to reduce risk of infection in healthcare workers.

"Major transmission of virus to healthcare workers is through the respiratory route which may happen due to coughing, sneezing or aerosol generating procedure required during the treatment of these patients such as intubation, suction, etc," the release said.

Ashish Sahani from IIT Ropar along with Vivek Gupta and G S Wander from DMCH Ludhiana have jointly developed an aerosol containment box that can be manufactured out of readily available materials.

They hoped that this design shall be adopted by hospitals in order to provide an additional layer of protection to the healthcare workers working at the frontlines of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.