Coronavirus: Hong Kong watchdog warns residents portable air purifiers test poorly in real-life conditions
- Overall performance of 10 wearable negative ion purifiers disappointing, Consumer Council says, even after an hour of operation in confined space
- Hongkongers better off simply washing hands, wearing masks and maintaining social distancing, council head Gilly Wong says
The portable purifiers provided only limited help in removing bacteria and pollutants, and should not be treated as health amulets, the watchdog warned on Tuesday.
No one should treat it as an amulet The ... test environment used by the manufacturers is very different from the environment where you use the devices
The council tested 10 wearable negative ion air purifiers in a tiny, confined space and found the overall performance disappointing, with bacteria removal rates of about 70 to 80 per cent, even after an hour of operation.
The council’s chief executive, Gilly Wong Fung-han, noted those results – and those from manufacturers – were mostly obtained in a small testing space that did not reflect the day-to-day reality experienced by consumers.
Wong said even if the negative ions generated by the devices could make pollutants negatively charged and adhere to other nearby particles or bacteria, thereby sinking as they got heavier, the air particles, which were very small and light, could float right back up in the presence of wind.