A school in South London is bringing in some extra firepower to protect its pupils when they reopen their gates next Monday… a Covid killing anti-viral spray that was developed with the British Army.
The Royal Russell School in Croydon will be arming staff with bottles of Virusend – a spray which kills all strains of the coronavirus, to 99.99% efficacy – to ensure both the students and staff receive the highest levels of protection possible when they re-enter classrooms – alongside a lateral flow on-site testing centre.
The bold move will protect not only 1100 pupils at the independent co-educational day and boarding school – as together with Virusend they have teamed up to donate the anti viral spray to thousands of pupils and their families across 12 other schools in the area, as part of the Rowdown Inspire to Aspire Foundation.
School pupils and staff will now be receiving the same ‘military grade’ disinfectant spray as military personnel across the country. 50,000+ bottles have already been deployed to troops on the frontline fight against the virus – protecting them at testing and vaccination centres throughout the UK and Northern Ireland.
Chris Hutchinson, Headmaster at the Royal Russell School said: ‘Our team has been working around the clock to get the school ready for our community to return this week. The opportunity to add this military grade level of protection alongside our testing facilities and other Covid-secure measures gives us increased confidence for a safe return to learning in person. The work we do in our local community is incredibly important to us and we were keen to ensure as many pupils and staff in the area can benefit from this technology as possible. We are delighted that 12 other schools in the area who we have close ties with, are also able to make use of Virusend in their classrooms.’
Gary Coy, Chair of Trustees at The Rowdown Inspire to Aspire Foundation said: ‘We are so pleased to be able to work alongside Virusend and Royal Russell in this innovative and generous scheme that will support the welfare of thousands of Croydon children and their families as they return to the school environment next week and beyond.’
Michael Pritchard, who once successfully appeared on Dragon’s Den, developed the unique disinfectant during the first lockdown and it has been undergoing rigorous testing at a world leading research institute.
The 53-year-old has worked on perfecting the environmentally friendly antiviral spray in partnership with the British Army, which uses compressed air instead of VOC flammable gasses, is fully recyclable and fully reusable.
Michael Pritchard, Director at Virusend said: ‘We know that getting schools up and running again is a vital first step in the country’s roadmap to recovery.Our technology has been protecting troops on a daily basis already – so introducing it into schools was the natural next step. We are calling on schools across the country to get in touch as we’d like to ensure every pupil and teacher is as protected as possible.’
The Army asked Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine to conduct tests at their Bio Security Level 3 Laboratory. They certified that VIRUSEND kills 99.99 percent of all strains of SARS -CoV-2 in 1 minute.
