Researchers invent mask that can kill coronavirus with heat from phone charger

Israeli researchers have invented a reusable face mask that can kill the coronavirus with heat by drawing power from a phone charger.

The team at Technion University in Haifa have come up with a mask with a USB port that connects to a mobile phone charger.

Heating the mask for about 30 minutes disinfects it by killing viruses on its surface. The charger heats a layer of carbon fibres up to 70 degrees celsius.

Professor Allon Moses, an infectious diseases expert at Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Center, said that just a half hour’s exposure to 70-degree heat would kill the coronavirus.

But he also cautioned that repeated heating could damage the mask’s paper or fabric and spoil its ability to protect from diseases in the future

However, During testing, the prototype was exposed to 20 heating cycles, each for half an hour, with no impact on durability.

The researchers submitted a patent for the mask in the USA in late March, and are looking at ways to commercialise it with the private sector.