Category: General

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Promising Methods to Sanitize N95 Masks for Reuse

Exposing contaminated N95 respirators to vaporized hydrogen peroxide (VHP) or ultraviolet (UV) light appears to eliminate the SARS-CoV-2 virus from the material and preserve the integrity of the masks’ fit for up to three uses, a National Institutes of Health (NIH) study shows.

Dry heat (70° C) was also found to eliminate the virus on masks but was effective for two uses instead of three.

Robert Fischer, PhD, with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Hamilton, Montana, and colleagues posted the findings on a preprint server on April 15. The paper has not yet been peer reviewed.

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COVID-19 : India Hotspot Districts List Released

After extending the nationwide lockdown, the Union health ministry on Wednesday released a list of 170 hotspot districts.

All the major metros including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengalauru, Chennai, Kolkata, and Hyderabad are part of the list of hotspots notified by the ministry. Tamil Nadu tops the list with 22 districts in the hotspots while Rajasthan and Maharashtra are second on the list with 11 each.

These districts were classified as hotspots or red zone after a letter from India’s health secretary Preeti Sudan. It adds that 123 of these districts have seen large outbreaks of Covid-19 infections and 47, clusters . The letter, a copy of which has been seen by HT, also lists 207 more districts where there are “clusters” of infections. All other districts are in the “green zone”.

Here is the list of hostpots identified by the government:

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