The Victorian government has announced it will invest more than $190 million in initiatives to support a COVID-safe reopening of schools, with a focus on ventilation. Billed by the government as “the biggest investment in education ventilation in Australian history”, the initiative will see 51,000 air purification devices rolled out to all government and low-fee […]
Clive Broadbent, AM, L.AIRAH, is a world-renowned expert on microbial control and was involved in responding to the SARS outbreak in 2003. At that time he formed part of a WHO team that travelled to China to analyse the spread of the virus and produce guidelines on laboratory standards, hospital practices and appropriate ventilation for […]
As students and staff prepare for a return to face-to-face learning, the NSW government has begun a comprehensive review of ventilation in public schools. Described as a “mammoth undertaking”, it will look at 2,200 schools in the public system, which has more than 50,000 learning spaces. Minister for Education and Early Childhood Learning Sarah Mitchell […]
OzSAGE, a multi-disciplinary network of Australian experts from a broad range of sectors, has issued advice on safe indoor air and ventilation to reduce the spread of COVID-19. With the airborne spread of SARS-CoV-2 now widely accepted, OzSAGE has highlighted that the most fundamental measure to eliminate the virus from indoor air is ventilation. Every […]
CIBSE ANZ is hosting an online seminar series called “Survival of the Fittest” that will explore the latest research, best ventilation practices and indoor air quality from Australia, the US, UK and New Zealand. Those interested in attending can register with a $70 discount using the code “AIRAHSurvival2021”. The sessions will be held on the […]
As Australia ponders the challenge of reopening with COVID-19 still present in our communities, the discourse from government has focused on vaccination targets. But increasingly, the public is demanding a more thorough response to the pandemic, incorporating other critical measures. Over the past weeks, one measure in particular has become front-page news: ventilation. “Vaccination is […]
A recent RMIT research project has highlighted the poor indoor air quality (IAQ) in some Victorian classrooms, and added to concerns around ventilation in Australian schools in general. Given their developmental stage and the amount of time they spend in the classroom, school children are particularly vulnerable to poor air quality. According to the report, […]
The most recent outbreak of COVID-19 in Victoria has brought renewed attention to ventilation systems in hotel quarantine. The new wave of cases began when a Victorian man returned to Melbourne after spending 14 days in the Playford medi-hotel in Adelaide. Although he initially returned a negative result, he later tested positive, and it has […]
Last week, an international group of scientists and indoor air quality (IAQ) experts called for a “paradigm shift” in combating airborne pathogens such as COVID-19 by improving indoor ventilation systems. They say that the potential benefit to public health is comparable to that achieved in the 1800s when cities started organising clean water supplies and […]
This week, international travellers began arriving in Melbourne again, and are re-entering Victoria’s revised hotel quarantine facilities. Numbers have been capped at 800 per week and will increase to 1,120 per week on April 15 provided that key recommendations are addressed – including many relating to ventilation. Focus on airborne transmission It has been almost […]