During the period of COVID-19 prevention and control, the Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention found nucleic acid of the novel coronavirus on the doorknob of a confirmed patient's home through monitoring and inspection of the living environment outside the home of confirmed patients.

Recently, the professional medical journal "New England Journal of Medicine" published a new research results, scientists from the US National Institutes of Health, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the University of California Los Angeles and Princeton University, by simulating the virus deposition caused by coughing and touching objects in the home or hospital environment of the new coronavirus infection. The stability of the novel coronavirus in different environments was assessed. The study found that the survival time of the novel coronavirus on cardboard was 24 hours; On plastic, stainless steel and other surfaces, the virus can survive for up to 72 hours; The survival time on copper surface is the shortest, only 4 hours.

Experimental results over the years have confirmed that copper has a rapid and extensive antibacterial effect on some highly toxic bacteria, fungi and viruses, including acinetobacter bauerii, Aspergillus Niger, Campylobacter jejuni, Escherichia coli, influenza A (H1N1), norovirus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, adenovirus, Candida albicans, Helicobacter pylori, Bacillus tuberculosis, poliovirus and so on. Scientific tests have shown that pure copper and copper alloys with copper content greater than 60% (such as brass, bronze, copper-nickel alloys, etc.) have good antibacterial function, and the higher the copper content, the better the antibacterial aging.

Copper is a veritable "treasure metal". In recent years, on some medical equipment, furniture and accessories, a special symbol for copper "Cu+" has appeared. This symbol indicates that the product contains bacteriostatic copper - currently the most effective contact surface bacteriostatic material in the world. EPA regulatory tests have shown that copper, brass, and bronze are effective against a variety of disease-causing bacteria. At room temperature, bacteriostasis copper can inhibit bacterial growth 24 hours a day, killing more than 99.9% of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin-resistant enterococcus, staphylococcus aureus, Enterobacter aerogenes, pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli on its surface within two hours, which can minimize "secondary pollution". The results are far superior to other materials, including silver-containing coatings, stainless steel, and antibacterial plastics. Antibacterial copper as a natural antibacterial material, no harm to people and the environment, 100% recyclable. Antibacterial copper surface without any form of coating, even if repeated wear, pollution, natural oxidation and even rust to different degrees, will not damage its antibacterial effect. In front of the powerful antibacterial copper, the overbearing bacteria "coward".

The problem of nosocomial infection of bacteria has always troubled the medical community. The main culprits of nosocomial infections include methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus, Clostridium difficile infection and Escherichia coli. These bacteria pose a huge risk to the health of patients. In addition to blocking the transmission route of pathogens, the application of antibacterial materials to environmental surfaces to improve infection control is also considered an effective and good method by the industry.

In a study published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology, scientists placed bacteria on a stainless steel surface to simulate finger prints and found that the bacteria lived on the surface for a long time, but died quickly on a copper or copper alloy surface.

Copper is definitely a "hardcore" sterilization master.

Experts believe that traditional disinfection and sterilization methods such as hand washing, although can control hospital infections, but not enough to achieve ideal results. In hospitals that use a lot of copper, there are significantly fewer cases of drug-resistant bacteria colonizing surfaces. Door handles, hospital bed fences, lighting switches, tables, faucets, infusion rods, etc., these copper and copper alloy products have been widely used in many hospitals. The data obtained by the ICU Research Institute in the United States show that the incidence of hospital infection HCAIs of patients in hospital wards where the main contact surface is replaced with copper is reduced by 40% to 70% compared with those in wards where the main contact surface is not replaced with copper.

In addition to its use in hospitals, copper can also be used in other environments that focus on preventing and controlling the spread of infection, such as nursing homes, ambulances, gyms, schools, public buildings, public transportation facilities, cruise ships, elevator rooms, HVAC and other equipment and environments that involve public safety and health. Copper, without the need for "supervision", will continue to faithfully play a disinfection role, but also for human pursuit of a better life to provide conditions.

During the epidemic prevention and control period, Peng Peng, president of Wuhan Pulmonary Hospital, said that in addition to the shortage of personnel and protective equipment on the front line of the epidemic, another prominent problem is the supply of oxygen. Severe patients need 100% oxygen, and the oxygen requirement of extremely critical patients is more than 10 times that of severe patients. As the carrier of oxygen and other gases in hospitals, medical gas copper pipes have attracted much attention in the current epidemic prevention and control.

Medical gas piping system is one of the important components of medical facility hardware, and the high quality pipe that meets the hygienic requirements is an effective guarantee for hospital rescue, treatment and detection. In the transportation process of medical gas from the gas source to the terminal, in order to avoid changes in the quality of medical gas caused by leakage, pollution and other factors, the gas pipeline should have good cleanliness, corrosion resistance and airtight. In addition to withstand a certain pressure, it also has the characteristics of multiple systems, multiple branch pipes, multiple media types, complex media characteristics, and multiple pipe varieties. Medical gas pipelines are different from common public pipelines in civil buildings because of the safety and health requirements of transportation, as well as the particularity and importance of the transportation medium. Once an accident occurs in the medical pipeline, it not only poses a serious threat to the safety of the patient's treatment and surgery, but also causes harm to others. Therefore, the selection of safe and high-quality pipes and reasonable construction connection methods can improve the safety and stability of medical gas systems and reduce the probability of accidents. The gas transported by medical gas pipelines often directly acts on patients, so the requirements of cleanliness and toxic residues are very strict, and the pipes used must be degreased and cleaned in strict accordance with the regulations. Due to the high cost of the degreasing process, the price of medical copper pipe will be slightly higher than that of ordinary copper pipe.

The hospital is a public building with complex functions, supporting more auxiliary facilities, and there are a large number of pipelines in addition to medical gas pipelines arranged in the corridor ceiling. When selecting the medical gas pipe, it is necessary to consider the bending factor at the connection between the pipe and the pipe fitting. Copper pipe has good flexibility and strong adaptability, which can make up for the shortcomings in construction. In addition, the non-flammability of copper pipe can play a good flame retardant effect, due to the dense internal structure, copper pipe also has excellent leakage and permeability resistance.

Copper pipes also support the goal of achieving green buildings. Green building refers to a building that saves resources to the maximum extent within the whole life cycle of the building, including energy saving, land saving, water saving, material saving, etc., protects the environment and reduces pollution, provides people with healthy, comfortable and efficient use of space, and harmonious coexistence with nature. Green building technology focuses on low consumption, high efficiency, economy, environmental protection, integration and optimization, and interior design requires to minimize the use of synthetic materials and save energy. Green building has become the trend and standard of global architectural design. Since August 1, 2019, the national standard of the People's Republic of China "Green Building Evaluation Standard" (GB/T50378-2019) jointly issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the State Administration for Market Regulation has been formally implemented, and the standard provisions clearly point out that indoor water supply systems require priority use of copper pipes and stainless steel pipes. "Official announced" the superior attributes of copper pipe.

In economically developed countries and regions, copper pipe is the preferred material for building water pipes. In the United States, Canada, Australia and other countries, 85% of building water supply pipes are copper pipes, and the United Kingdom even reaches 95%. In Southeast Asia, Singapore, Hong Kong and other regions, the utilization rate of copper pipes as building water pipes is also as high as 75%. Biological studies have shown that E. coli in the water supply can no longer reproduce in copper pipes. More than 99% of the bacteria in the water were completely killed five hours after entering the copper pipe. The structure of copper pipe is extremely dense and impermeable. No matter fats, bacteria, viruses, oxygen and ultraviolet rays and other harmful substances can not pass through it and pollute the water quality. In contrast, copper pipe integrates many advantages and has gradually become the preferred pipe for many major buildings, and it is also the pipe for direct drinking water management. Copper is also an important component of proteins and enzymes in the body and is crucial to the body's metabolic processes. As a trace element in the human body, drinking water transported from copper pipes absorbs a proper amount of copper, which also helps human health.

Copper water pipe has small high temperature expansion coefficient, high low temperature strength, can withstand extremely hot and cold temperatures, and is an excellent pipe for hot water supply. Because the inner wall is smooth, as the water pipe friction is small, the flow is large, no noise, the pressure resistance is outstanding, can significantly reduce the water leakage rate, so that the pipeline connection is more tight and safe. Copper pipes can be 100% recycled, with high regeneration value, and will not pollute the environment like plastic pipes that eventually become white waste that is difficult to decompose. Although the cost of copper water pipes is higher than that of ordinary plastic water pipes and stainless steel water pipes, the service life of copper pipes is extremely long, and copper pipes can ensure that they do not need to be repaired and replaced during use.

逐句對照