A PHYSICIST and health activist who is campaigning for negative ion ionisers to be used in the fight to stop the spread of coronavirus is waiting to hear if the Scottish Government is considering them as a way of protecting care workers.

The National reported last month how Pete Gavin had gifted two of the devices to his local pharmacy in Inverness and was advocating their use in hospitals and care homes.

His Labour MSP is awaiting a reply to a Holyrood question, which read: “To ask the Scottish Government, in light of previously published scientific trials in 1994, 2006 and 2015 stating that negative ion ionisers are effective at reducing cross infectivity, whether it has considered using them as an additional method to protect care workers against Covid-19.”

Ionisers release negative ions into the air which latch on to positive ions, such as dust, pollen, and importantly, bacteria and viruses. The resulting bonded molecules are heavier and fall to the ground or on to surfaces such as desk or tabletops. The air is thus cleaned, although the other surfaces will have to be disinfected manually.

David Stewart’s question will be answered on Tuesday, but Gavin said, since our first report, he has uncovered more research into the devices and their use against Covid-19 around the world.

He said: “I have located over a dozen scientific papers on negative ion ionisers showing they safely sanitise air. Many combat infectivity where moisture aerosol is a hazard and these stretch back to 1979.”

Gavin said the evidence he had retrieved backed his case for a review of air sanitation for inhabited, at-risk spaces.

Scientists around the world are embracing the technology, variations of which are being used to fight Covid-19 in India, Germany, China and the United Arab Emirates.

India’s Express Healthcare has reported how one treatment, developed by scientists from The European Medical Association along with Redcliffe Lifesciences and Sapio Analytics, had been proven to “cure” Covid-19 better than conventional plasma treatment.

“We have innovated an accessible treatment of Covid-19, using the widely accepted concept of plasma treatment, and combining it with adjuvant negative ion therapy using a proprietary ioniser device,” said the team.

“The treatment has already been applied in China and Germany (3000+ patients), with successful results, proving to be about 10 times more effective than conventional plasma therapy, with recovery rate of severe and acute patients being less than 48 hours.”

Gavin added: “Negative ion ionisers are proven safe in populated spaces.”