Trials of novel technology that could dramatically cut the time it takes to decontaminate ambulances have taken place following a rapid appeal by the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) in response to Coronavirus.

Scientists at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) have tested 12 methods to speed-up the sanitising of ambulances – in some cases reducing cleaning time from an hour to around 10 minutes so more lives can be saved.

DASA coronavirus response

More than 200 ideas were submitted to DASA by industry in just seven days following the appeal, which was launched on behalf of the Welsh Ambulance Service, Welsh Government, The Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) Centre of Excellence, and Innovate UK.

Gabriella Cox, DASA security competition lead, said:

This has been a huge effort from everyone involved. The response by industry was remarkable and there has been a monumental effort by staff from DASA, Dstl and our partners to be able to complete this project in just 33 days.

Innovation has never been more important as we play our part in the national effort against Coronavirus.