Israelis pilot disinfectant tunnel at Tel Aviv venue

June 4 – Donald Trump’s famous disinfectant comment may have been ridiculed across the world but Israeli authorities have discovered a special water-based prototype which, if used in the proper way outside the body, can help prevent the spread of Covid-19 among footballers and staff.

Tel Aviv’s Bloomfield Stadium has installed a special sanitation tunnel to spray players arriving for matches with a fine disinfectant mist.

A pilot scheme, which will run until the end of the season, makes disinfectant out of electrolyzed water and has been developed by RD Pack, an Israeli company specialising in automation.

“We are not a cure for the coronavirus, we are fighting against its spread,” said Eran Druker, RD’s vice president for business development.

The Israel Premier League resumed late last month with all matches behind closed doors and since the pilot began three matches have been played at the stadium, home to Maccabi Tel Aviv, Hapoel Tel Aviv and Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv. Players, staff and media are not obliged to walk through the glass tunnel, but Druker estimated 100-200 people have done so before each match.

“Most people want to go through it. They feel much more secure,” he told Reuters.

The tunnel at the venue senses people entering, which then starts a water pump. The company hopes to get regulatory approval within three months.

“When people walk through the tunnel, their whole body gets sprayed with the disinfectant, which works fast and efficiently, and provides the complete sterilization of a person,” said Druker.

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