CAPE TOWN - A video has gone viral demonstrating how easily a virus can spread amongst people in a public setting using a blacklight and fluorescent paint.
NHK, Japanese national broadcasting organisation, has produced the experiment in collaboration with medical professionals.
The experiment is to demonstrate how the germ of a virus may spread from one infected person to the other. In this case, there were 10 participants in a simulated buffet setting. One of the participants were designated as the infected person by applying fluorescent paint just to the hands.
The fluorescent paint cannot be seen with ordinary lighting. After the application of the paint, participants instructed to continue with the buffet service as normal.
The results came after 30 minutes, with the reveal of a blacklight, all 10 participants had the paint spread to their hands and 3 had the germs spread to their face despite another participant, role playing as the clerk, had encouraged everyone to wash their hands frequently, swapped the tongs used to dish the food often and separated dished. The blacklight also revealed points of contact. most of which on commonly touched surfaces and utensils.
The experiment displays how easily and quickly a virus may spread in public spaces, but as NHK has pointed out accompanying the test, that such scenarios are common on cruise ships and proves to be a way in which the virus had spread so rapidly on-board.
All necessary precautions have taken place throughout the production of the experiment.
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