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Environ Res
. 2021 Mar 25;111015.
doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111015. Online ahead of print.
Environmental Survival of SARS-CoV-2 - A solid waste perspective
Mahalaxmi Iyer 1 , Sushmita Tiwari 2 , Kaviyarasi Renu 3 , Md Younus Pasha 4 , Shraddha Pandit 3 , Bhupender Singh 5 , Neethu Raj 6 , Krothapalli Saikrishna 6 , Hee Jeong Kwak 7 , Venkatesh Balasubramanian 6 , Soo Bin Jang 7 , G Dileep Kumar 8 , Uttpal Anand 9 , Arul Narayanasamy 10 , Masako Kinoshita 11 , Mohana Devi Subramaniam 1 , Nachimuthu Senthil Kumar 12 , Ayan Roy 5 , Abilash Valsala Gopalakrishnan 3 , Ramakrishnan Parthasarathi 2 , Ssang-Goo Cho 13 , Balachandar Vellingiri 14
Affiliations
- PMID: 33775678
- DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111015
Abstract
The advent of COVID-19 has kept the whole world on their toes. Countries are maximizing their efforts to combat the virus and to minimize the infection. Since infectious microorganisms may be transmitted by variety of routes, respiratory and facial protection is required for those that are usually transmitted via droplets/aerosols. Therefore this pandemic has caused a sudden increase in the demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) such as gloves, masks, and many other important items since, the evidence of individual-to-individual transmission (through respiratory droplets/coughing) and secondary infection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). But the disposal of these personal protective measures remains a huge question mark towards the environmental impact. Huge waste generation demands proper segregation according to waste types, collection, and recycling to minimize the risk of infection spread through aerosols and attempts to implement measures to monitor infections. Hence, this review focuses on the impact of environment due to improper disposal of these personal protective measures and to investigate the safe disposal methods for these protective measures by using the safe, secure and innovative biological methods such as the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Ultraviolet (UV) lights for killing such deadly viruses.
Keywords: Artificial intelligence; Biomedical waste; Biomedical waste management; COVID-19; Environmental damage; Personnel protective equipment (PPE).