A major events venue in Brussels has announced it will start using ultraviolet (UV) disinfectant lamps in a bid to safely relaunch activities after the coronavirus lockdown. Brussels Expo said it will outfit its Heysel Palace events venue with UVC lamps “which are very effective against pathogens, namely viruses and other diseases caused by bacteria.” The events manager, which hosts hundreds of major musical and cultural events yearly, said that the installation of the germicidal lamps would begin in all of its venues in June.
The decision would allow for the relaunch of the events sector which has ground to a halt under lockdown regulations imposed to curb the coronavirus pandemic. Brussels Expo CEO Denis Delforge said the installation of the lamps would ensure that the restart of activities takes place under “optimal sanitary conditions.” The lamps that Brussels Expo would employ would be the same already used to disinfectant hospital and surgical rooms, ambulances or public transportation.
The use of the lamps by Brussels Expo would accompany other measures imposed on the public, such as the use of masks and disinfectant gel and complement measures to cut down on the number of visitors. The use of UV lighting to kill the new coronavirus (Covid-19) has been gaining widespread attention in global media after US President Donald Trump speculated on their use on humans to kill the virus during a press conference. While UV rays have been proved to be highly effective at disinfecting surfaces and killing viruses and bacteria, it also poses significant health hazards to human health. Following Trump’s comments, members of the scientific and medical community warned that UV light has been “shown to be extremely damaging to human tissue, in particular, the skin and eyes.”
“The UVC purificators use a combination of technologies allowing their safe usage in the presence of the public,” the events venue said, according to the Belga news agency. “We foresee a restart of activities on 1 September, but we are of course bound to the decisions taken by the National Security Council,” Delforge said.
