Bangladesh firm Z&Z says its fabric can kill coronavirus within two minutes

Zaber & Zubair Fabrics Ltd, a flagship company of local garment exporter Noman Group, has claimed to have invented a fabric that can kill the novel coronavirus in just two minutes.

Besides personal protective equipment or PPE, face masks and other protective clothing, the fabric can be used to make dresses, Anol Rahman, senior brand manager at Z&Z, said while launching it officially at a press conference in Dhaka’s Gulshan on Thursday.

Virologist Dr Nazrul Islam of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University told bdnews24.com he had heard of a mosquito net made with chemical ingredients but never heard of such fabric that can kill virus.

“If they (Z&Z) have invented a fabric like that, chemical ingredients used in the fabric need to be examined first to know about its side effects on humans.”

The company said the treated fabric has no side effect on humans but it has not contacted the health authorities for trials.

It said it has already obtained a certificate of compliance from a lab approved by the World Health Organization. It has also received an order from the United Group of Middle East for 500,000 face masks made of the fabric.

A chemical ingredient that can kill the coronavirus within 120 seconds has been used to develop the fabric, Anol told bdnews24.com. He refused to reveal further details saying it was their business secret.

“But it will be disclosed later,” he said.

The Z&Z official said they had worked with two different laboratories in Switzerland to ensure the fabric’s efficiency to kill the coronavirus.

It has also been tested for different coronaviruses such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and the results have been “excellent”.

But the fabric was not tested for the novel coronavirus as it needed genome culture for the virus, officially called SARS-Cov-2, for the test.

The company will contact the health ministry to discuss the functions of the fabric as it is ready to launch the product globally.

The price of the fabric would be 15 to 20 percent higher than ordinary clothes. It will begin to be less effective in killing the virus after 20 to 30 washes, Anol said.

The fabric has been introduced as “coronavirus killing fabric”, shortly “corona block”. A technical term, “anti-corona treated fabric”, has also been used to introduce the product.

The company has already received certificate of compliance from the UK Certification and Inspection Limited in London for the European markets, officials said at the press conference.

Mushtuq Husain, a former chief scientific officer at the government’s disease control agency IEDCR, said he cannot comment on the fabric before conducting tests on it.