Coronavirus: 100th EU disinfection robot delivered to European hospitals
Today marks the delivery of the 100th disinfection robot, part of the Commission’s action to supply these to hospitals across the EU to help them cope with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Emergency Clinical Hospital Bagdasar-Arseni in Bucharest is receiving the robot today and six other hospitals in Romania are set to have one delivered in the coming days, thus benefitting from these robots’ ability to disinfect a standard size patient room in as quickly as 15 minutes by using ultraviolet light. The Commission has already donated disinfection robots to hospitals in 22 countries: Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Sweden. Deliveries will continue until autumn and the aim is to supply more than 200 robots to EU hospitals treating COVID-19 patients that have expressed interest in this technology. By using disinfection robots, hospitals can ensure a sterile environment without exposing staff to unnecessary risk. Cleaning staff operate the robot from outside the room to be disinfected, so no healthcare worker is present during the process. This action is made possible through the Emergency Support Instrument and the devices are supplied by Danish company UVD robots, which won an emergency procurement tender. EU hospitals treating COVID-19 patients can still express interest in receiving a disinfection robot by filling in this online form.
