Demand soars for automated device that disinfects doorknobs as businesses scramble to be Covid-safe

A company which has invented technology that automatically disinfects doorknobs and other surfaces has seen a 900 per cent rise in monthly production as demand has soared during the pandemic.

99Point9 is now producing 10,000 units a month and supplying schools, care homes and pubs around the world, including Young's pubs in Britain, as economies try to open up safely after lengthy lockdowns.

Simon Sassoon, nephew of the hairdresser Vidal Sassoon, invented the technology 12 years ago but a lack of interest saw the product shelved.

But things picked up as Covid-19 spread across the globe.

"In the first week of February I started getting phone calls," he said. "Ohio State Medical Centre was the first call I got. Now we are producing again and selling to Australia, South Africa, Ireland, the Czech Republic, parts of Scandinavia. Demand has shot up like a helium balloon."

The device, which looks like a soap dispenser, is fitted above the door handle and can be programmed to squirt disinfectant onto the surface at regular intervals. It can also be adjusted to disinfect other surfaces, like lift buttons.

"The hygiene solution needs to be automated as humans are fallible," said Mr Sassoon. One device costs £40, although the company says it could cut the price for bulk orders, for example from the NHS.

The product claims to kill 99.9 per cent of bacteria, viruses and fungi with a "hospital-grade" isopropanol and quaternary ammonium-based disinfectant mist, the ingredients used in hand sanitiser and disinfectant wipes.

The World Health Organization says there are as yet no examples of surface transmission, although concerns have been raised after outbreaks blamed on traces of virus found on frozen fish in China.

Dr Marc Wilkenfeld, a board member of 99Point9 and professor of medicine at Columbia University, said: "If you go back to the office, you want to feel safe. I work with Simon because I believe he can improve public health.

I don't want to do optics: it's nice for people to feel safe but if you feel safe with something that doesn't work, that's not what you want."

The 99Point9 system has been approved by the US Environmental Protection Agency. 

Dr Julian Tang, a consultant virologist at Leicester University, said the device looked "ingenious", but it remained unclear how much transmission of SARS CoV-2 happened through this route.

"Although studies suggest that the virus may survive for hours to days on steel and plastic surfaces or door handles, we don’t know actually how much is transmitted to door handles from hands," he said.

"SARS CoV-2 is mostly transmitted via aerosols or droplets generated by talking and breathing."

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