Problem: highly contagious COVID19 virus is spread in hospitals inside and outside intensive care units (ICU’s), medical personnel and other patients are exposed to high risk of getting infected.

Calculations show that ICU’s will not have enough beds for COVID19 patients in few months (today there are 120000 COVID19 infected patients in European Union) and up to 2.5 million other patients and medical personnel will become exposed to virus directly. Also, health care systems are burdened with enormous cost; in Lithuania cost of daily stay in hospital is at least 125 Euro. On top of this there is cost of labor force loss in businesses.

SOLUTION: EBRAVI

Our proposed solution is to immediately kill the viruses in the air exhaled by the patient. This way spread of the virus is minimized and safety of medical personnel and other patients is substantially increased. The solution is implemented by personal ultraviolet light respirator, which kills 99% of viruses before exhaled air gets into wards or general-purpose quarters. The method is scientifically proven and the prototype is ready. The solution will limit enormous pressure on medical expenses, because the cost of ultraviolet respirator is comparable to a cost daily stay in hospital. For example, in Lithuania 2 weeks of treatment of COVID19 patient can cost 1750 EURO. This low-cost ( 150 euro/unit) units can be quickly supplied to hospitals, which do not have special ICU wards where COVID19 patients pose highest risk to other patients and personnel. Thus the infection can be limited to individual person and stopped from spreading. Confirmation for need of such Ultraviolet respirator has been received from Santaros Infectious disease centre and Vilnius University Medical faculty. Arrangements for prototype testing hospital have already been discussed.

The working principle: The product consists of (1) face mask and (2) container for air -pass with UV lamp inside reflector and power supply and control circuit. Today the container is size of two bottles of soda. The patient wears ergonomic face mask. The inhaled air comes in through one-way membrane. The mask is connected to Ultraviolet module. Exhaled air passes particle filter and then passes through the chamber with UV light source and reflector. The UV source (bulb or LED kills 99% of viruses inside the chamber. The air exiting the chamber is virus-free (see the table for other viruses below). Our product development strategy: low cost, high efficiency. The need for this active respirator has already been confirmed by head of Santaros clinics Center for infectious diseases. The hospital firmly believes this will dramatically increase the safety in the hospitals and halt the spread of corona infection there.