Concerning the ongoing evaluation of the effectiveness of disinfection methods by the National Institute of Technology and Evaluation (NITE), the review committee session of experts held its fourth meeting and decided that two types of surfactant are additionally effective to remove the novel coronavirus.
In order to cope with the spread of the novel coronavirus disease and to increase the options for disinfection methods using agents other than alcohol at home and in workplaces, NITE has been implementing disinfection effectiveness evaluations for such methods in response to a request from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (news release on April 15, 2020).
Yesterday, May 28, 2020, the review committee session of experts held its fourth meeting and decided that benzethonium chloride (0.05% or more) and dialkyldimethyl ammonium chloride (0.01% or more) are effective to remove the novel coronavirus.
Accordingly, the number of types of surfactants decided to be effective comes to seven as below:
- Sodium linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (0.1% or more);
- Alkyl glycoside (0.1% or more);
- Alkylamine oxide (0.05% or more);
- Benzalkonium chloride (0.05% or more);
- Benzethonium chloride (0.05% or more) (newly added on May 28, 2020);
- Dialkyldimethyl ammonium chloride (0.01% or more) (newly added on May 28, 2020); and
- Polyoxyethylene alkylether (0.2% or more)
METI prepared a poster as a reference on how to make use of these surfactants (Related document 1), while NITE posted a list of detergents containing these surfactants on its website. METI hopes that many of you make use of these materials.
Concerning “hypochlorous acid solution,”* the review committee session of experts did not reach a decision this time and it decided to continue verification tests on this substance.
Moreover, the secretariat has compiled facts on the current sales situations of hypochlorous acid water and spraying it in indoor air as of today and released them (Related documents 2 and 3).
For more information, visit the NITE website via the link below and see the materials of the committee published on the website as well as this press release.
*Note: ”Hypochlorous acid solution” is different from “sodium hypochlorite” which has been recommended to use for disinfecting household commodities as a measure for addressing the novel coronavirus,
