India to use Israeli solution to safeguard public places in its fight against COVID-19: Report

India is to use an innovative antiseptic disinfectant, which was originally developed for the Israeli Defence Forces to deal with biological warfare, to protect its public places in its fight against the highly contagious coronavirus, a media report here.

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The solution developed by the Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR), an organisation that works under the supervision of the Prime Minister’s Office and the Defence Ministry and is at the forefront of efforts to develop a vaccine against the Coronavirus pandemic, is distributed by an Israeli company Tera Novell.

Tera Novell will transfer the solution, under a confidentiality agreement as to the unique compound expected to aid in cardinal disinfection of airports, hospitals, the public transport system and more, to its Indian distributor Zhiva Innovations Biotech, The Jerusalem Post reported on Sunday.

The new solution has been found to disinfect surfaces off 100 per cent of bacteria, viruses (including coronavirus), molds and fungi, and remains active for a long time after being sprayed in a manner which is safe for the public, the report claimed.

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Prior to signing the cooperation agreement with India, the technology went through successful trials at several public places in Israel, especially those running high risk of getting infected, it added.

The disinfection process was carried out in collaboration with Tera Novel, which has exclusive marketing rights on a variety of the IIBR's products, including the WT Sterile product, which was developed for the military to be used against biological warfare, providing a full disinfection of wet surfaces and places.

With the Covid-19 pandemic posing grave threat, Tera Novel shifted its aim to finding targeted and innovative solutions to prevent the spread and infection of the new coronavirus in public institutions, the report said.

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"This is a breakthrough for the environmental war on the coronavirus and, in fact, any other virus or pollutant. The antiseptic allows for maximum protection while fully killing the virus and can be used on vertical and horizontal wet surfaces.

"These features make it ideal for use anywhere, whether in public places and institutions, tourist sites, sports facilities, or for home use”, Keren Cohen Hazon, CEO of Tera Novel, was quoted as saying by The Jerusalem Post.

"I am confident that the state-of-the-art technology will be able to assist India in the stubborn war against the coronavirus," Hazon said.

India like many other nations is under the grip of coronavirus and till now has reported 5,48,318 cases with 16,475 deaths, according to India’s Union Health Ministry data.