In a bid to address the scarcity of N95 respirators, Addis Abeba University's Institute of Technology has started reprocessing used masks using an ultraviolet or UV light decontamination process.

With the capacity to reprocess 5,000 N95 respirators a day using a high-output UV–C decontamination chamber, the Institute takes five minutes to complete the decontamination. N95 respirators are face masks used by both medical professionals and the broader public during the current Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that meet criteria set out by a US government regulatory agency to filter out 95pc of airborne particles.

Thomas Baer (MD), a medicine specialist, and his team at the Stanford Photonics Research Center and Optical Society Foundation have developed and prototyped a UV-C chamber, which can be used for rapid decontamination and reprocessing of N95s.

The chamber uses 90cm-long germicidal lamps that produce UV light and are mounted to the back and doors of a metal chamber. The bulbs are spaced 23cm apart and are located in upper and lower banks; each bank has eight lights. The chamber includes a power meter for testing the lamps' irradiance.

The Institute is set to start the process of reprocessing the masks after securing a 4,500-dollar grant from the Optical Society Association (OSA), an association of individuals and companies with an interest in optics and photonics. The funding came through Lifebox, an organisation devoted to safe surgery and anaesthesia in low-resource countries.

The grant was used to cover the costs of the parts to reprocess the masks, such as the metal chamber, germicidal lamp fixtures, replacement lamps, nuts to attach UV-C lamps to the metal chamber and electrical wire nuts. The Institute will also assign one person to follow up on the process. Production is expected to start in the coming few weeks.

The institute prepared tools such as variable size drills, screwdrivers and a hot melt glue gun, according to Esayas G. Yohannes (PhD), executive director at the Institute.

The Institute is also producing intubation caving, a tube inserted in patients to connect with a ventilator to assist them with breathing, to distribute to hospitals. It is also producing bubble helmets for healthcare workers to protect them from the virus.