On Sunday, March 29, Tirupur-based D Venkatesh, who runs a water treatment company in the city, witnessed people crowding the vegetable and fish market in Tirupur. He knew that people could be carriers of the coronavirus and also spread it to others without their knowledge. He also knew that Tirupur collector K Vijayakarthikeyan had also tweeted his displeasure over people not following social distancing practices.
Venkatesh, inspired by a video from Turkey which showed people being sprayed with disinfectant, decided he would build a disinfectant tunnel to answer the problem. The ‘Corona Disinfectant Tunnel’ is a portable, 16-feet stainless steel structure fitted in a mild steel (MS) frame. Nozzles fitted throughout the length of the tunnel spray a disinfectant solution— Sodium-Hypochlorite in a water-base at 0.5 ppm— in a fine mist, as people walk through the tunnel. It takes an average of about 3 to 5 seconds for a person to cross the distance, which is sufficient to disinfect them, Venkatesh believes.
He began building this tunnel Sunday evening, and finished on March 31 evening. A trial run of the corona disinfectant tunnel took place today April 1, between 7 and 8.30 am. It was formally commissioned by the District Collector K Vijayakarthikeyan at 11 am and has been positioned at the exit of Thennampalayam Uzhavar Sandhai so that public are sanitised before they leave.
Here is a Better Quality Video of our Disinfection tunnel in #Tiruppur ! We are looking to upscale it in more places. Thank you all for your support and encouragement ! Thank you #YI and #CII #TiruppurCoronaFighters #திருப்பூர் pic.twitter.com/NfO5lu4BA1
— Vijayakarthikeyan K (@Vijaykarthikeyn) April 1, 2020
Venkatesh, who donated the tunnel costing approximately Rs 1 lakh to the Tirupur District Corona Prevention Team, said, “This product is born out of necessity. Though it has been inspired by the Turkey video, our product is more sophisticated.”
“Any tunnel needs to be this long or longer so that there’s enough time to for people to be sprayed effectively. We also have a good number of nozzles. Anything less than 3 seconds will not be effective. I might increase the length of the tunnel in future models to enhance the spraying time,” he added.
Venkatesh said that there had been two attempts earlier in other parts of India. But both were too small and their efficiency was not up to the mark. Venkatesh told TNM that he had been approached by several people interested in sponsoring the tunnel. “Most were from Tamil Nadu, some from other states too. One tunnel will be installed in Coimbatore next week.”