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With a passion for technology, Nguyen Tuan Linh, has created an automatic hand sanitiser to help stop the spread of COVID-19. (Photo: giaoducthoidai.vn)

With a passion for technology, a secondary school student from the northern province of Quang Ninh has designed an automatic hand sanitiser to help fight the spread of COVID-19.

Since the pandemic hit, like other students across the country, Nguyen Tuan Linh, a ninth grader, has been off school.

In addition to revising, he decided to do something to help the community, adding that COVID-19 has caused concern for many people.

“I see people using plastic disinfectant bottles which may be at risk of cross-contamination, so I came up with the idea of making an automatic hand sanitiser machine to solve the problem,” he was quoted by nguoiduatin.vn online newspaper as saying.

He first began thinking of how the machine should work and calculate the cost.

After studying for a while, Linh found that automatic hand driers in public were very useful. He was confident he could make his machine with the knowledge gained at school.

It took him a week to come up with ideas and sketch the design but needed only a day to complete the machine at a cost of about VND1 million (US$43).

“I wanted to finish it quickly because this is the peak time of the disease.”

The operation of the machine was quite simple, he said.

It operates on the principle of infrared reflection. When users put their hands under the nozzle of the machine at a distance of 10-15cm, an infrared sensor will recognise and transmit signals to the central control circuit, which then pumps the solution out of the mist nozzle.

The users will receive a certain amount of solution to disinfect their hands. The amount of solution depends on how long you hold your hands under the nozzle. However, the machine will stop spraying the solution after about five seconds.

Linh said the automatic hand sanitiser would help people wash their hands properly.

As a matter of fact, he has received a good response after presenting two machines to two health facilities in the locality.

It is said to meet the requirement of quick disinfection, easy to use and suitable for all types of hand sanitiser solutions specialised for use in the healthcare sector. The machine will help prevent the risk of cross-contamination of influenza type A, hand, foot and mouth disease, and particularly the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mac Thi Tuyet, head of the general department of Quảng Yên Town Healthcare Centre, said the machine was useful, especially amid the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Tuan Linh is a talented student. Although he is young, he has thought of creating a machine to serve the community during this critical time.”

Vu Thi Dieu Linh, vice chairwoman of Quang Yên Town’s People’s Committee, also appreciated his innovation, saying it was meaningful.

She said local authorities had asked Tuan Linh to make eight machines, which would be installed at a number of places where many people receive services.

Linh said he had had a passion for creativity, science and technology since childhood, and he was encouraged by his parents.

He won the first prize at the provincial Science and Technology Contest for secondary school students in the 2019-2020 school year with a product which cleaned the surface of shrimp farming ponds.

“I am very happy to have contributed my little effort to the country’s response to COVID-19. I hope that young people work together to invent useful machines for our society in the fight against the disease,” he said.

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