Can we clean Covid from the air around us?

The Covid-19 pandemic has given poor indoor air quality its first significant moment in the spotlight. What changes are needed to address this invisible menace to human health, and will the pandemic be the trigger that finally sees it addressed? Chemistry World  talks to an interdisciplinary group of experts to hear their views. 

Clean indoor air is vital for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is where we do most of our breathing – people in the global north spend, on average, 90% of their time inside buildings or vehicles. Disease transmission is another reason, with airborne viruses spreading much better indoors than out. Robust evidence shows that many respiratory viruses, including those responsible for Covid-19, flu and the common cold, are airborne. Viruses are present in the saliva and fluids lining the respiratory tract of infected people.