Hong Kong Airport Tests Disinfecting Booths To Take Temperatures, Kill Virus

The Hong Kong International Airport is testing a new booth that people can walk through that will take their temperatures and disinfect their clothing and bodies. It does not test for the presence of viruses, though, or whether someone is contagious.

[T]hose passing through undertake a temperature check before entering a small booth for the 40-second disinfection and sanitizing procedures.

According to the airport authority, the inside of the facility contains an antimicrobial coating that can remotely kill any viruses and/or bacteria found on clothing, as well as the body, by using photocatalyst advances along with “nano needles.”

…The individual is also sprinkled with sanitizing spray for “instant disinfection” inside the booth, which is kept under negative pressure, an isolation technique used in hospitals and medical centers, to prevent cross-contamination.


Credit: Hong Kong International Airport

Currently the booth is being used on staff who check arriving passengers, and not on passengers themselves. However Hong Kong was at the forefront of checking passenger temperatures remotely as they arrived from abroad after the SARS outbreak.

This is one early look at how airports may adapt to the limit the spread of illness, and just as importantly to give passengers confidence that they are visibly ‘doing something’ to make travel safe.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. Good news: We put you through a creepy machine so you can feel like we are “doing something.”
    Bad news: We probably gave you cancer.

  2. One sneeze after your booth visit and your fellow passengers are all infected
    Spreading it worldwide and then to their families and loved ones
    Great entertainment though

  3. This doesn’t make ANYONE feel better, its a waste of money. The masses arent going to fly unless they have a life or death situation, or we have a MAJOR treatment.

  4. Separate booths for Dissidents and Pro-Democracy advocates. Walk in, carried out. Based on CCP technology.

  5. They will have to get these for NYC / LA area airports and run the homeless through them daily.

  6. Can’t we just dunk everyone in bleach for 60 seconds? I heard that knocks out the virus from someone on TV. What about a solution of bleach and vinegar? The best people told me that that works.

  7. @Rico, apparently $24’000 freezers filled with $15 pints of ice cream are more effective.

    Or, just fill streets with: feces; urine; syringes and rats, then walk thru it.

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