Yet, another cold and flu story, a couple of weeks ago the London Paper got us into thinking that coughing could be "banned" on the Tube and now it seems that carriages could be sprayed with disinfectant to protect us underground.
Hong Kong is among the first cities to test one of the latest anti-flu products, nano silver-titianium dioxide coating, or the more snappy acronym NSTDC. Apparently it is applied to all surfaces inside a subway car that passengers commonly touch. The preliminary tests conducted in Hong Kong show that the disinfectant reduces the amount of bacteria by 60 percent and it looks like the London Underground might be heading the same way.
"In Hong Kong, NSTDC is spread everywhere, including escalator handrails, ticket machines and poles. This product is long lasting, according to the MTR spokesman. It is only spread once every three years and checked once every eight months."
The guys and gals at TfL have shown some interest in this and are monitoring the results. "If it is proved to be effective, then we would consider using it," said Stuart Ross, spokesman for Transport for London. However, if you think you'll be seeing blokes in white suits with sprays in the next couple of months you'll be wrong, as Ross continued "But we will not use it this winter".
Metro reports that TfL have plans for dealing with flu working with the Government and other agencies, but there's no mention as to what those plans are.
Perhaps they weren't prepared to cough up the 1.5 million dollars that the spraying system is costing the MTR and feel that a "Wash your hands after using the Tube" sign might be much cheaper.
No comments:
Post a Comment