Save your breath
If you're worried about the recent bird-flu case, you might like to know about an indoor air purifier that claims to remove airborne viruses. Oxyvital is a Hong Kong company that says its purifiers are 100 per cent effective in removing viruses such as H5N1, H1N1 and Sars, and its claims are backed up by research from the Beijing University of Technology.
Oxyvital says that when air passes through its purifiers, it goes through a multistage filtration process that removes dust and larger particles before being forced through a compressor and then into a patented ZeoSieve system. Here a catalytic process kills viruses and breaks down other airborne bacterial contaminants, some of which are 'up to 2,000 times smaller than what most other air purifiers can process', according to Ilse Massenbauer-Strafe, founder of Oxyvital.
The Beijing University study was conducted by its College of Life Science and Bio-Medical Engineering, which has one of the mainland's leading virologists, Professor Zeng Yi, as its dean.
The German-made air purifier meets World Health Organisation guidelines.
Massenbauer-Strafe says the technology has been installed in government buildings, commercial and residential spaces, schools, fitness centres and medical institutions around the world. Season Fitness, the first gym chain in Hong Kong to implement the Oxyvital system, is installing it in its Kowloon Bay branch, due to open early next year.
'As a health club, we have a responsibility to provide our members with a healthy environment,' says general manager Dan Codling. 'Exercise outdoors is becoming near impossible due to poor air quality and research is suggesting indoor air quality is as bad if not worse.'
