SCHOOLS in Ceredigion will be piloting new air purifiers that have been developed to clean the air in classrooms to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

The purifiers have been developed by Dr Rhys Thomas, and pupils at Ysgol Bro Pedr in Lampeter have worked with him to create and pilot them in the school.

The purifiers devised by Dr Thomas are called Corsi Rosenthal Thomas (CRT) and are based on the CorsiRosethal Box model.

Dr Thomas is well-known as he co-designed the CPAP respiratory device to treat Covid-19 patients, as well as the Virtual Ward App to care for patients at home.

The purifiers are designed to clean the air in classrooms and offices from virus particles, including Covid-19, bacteria, fungus and more.

Following the construction of three purifiers at Ysgol Bro Pedr, Ceredigion County Council will now trial a further 30 units that will be built and implemented in classrooms on both primary and secondary campuses.

Aled Wyn Dafis, Head of Design and Technology at Ysgol Bro Pedr, said: “Following the work done by the Design and Technology departments to create Visors for our frontline workers at the start of the pandemic in 2020, I began to investigate if we could do something to reduce the impact of the latest Omicron wave on our schools.

“I came across the fantastic work Dr Thomas has done to develop the Corsi Rosenthal Thomas (CRT) air purifier for British manufacture using resources that are available cheaply on the web.

“So I contacted Dr Rhys for more information and he was pleased to hear that a school in Ceredigion was keen to trial these CRT purifiers.”

Dr Thomas said: “Covid-19 is an airborne virus, so ensuring clean air in buildings like schools and hospitals is essential.

“Good ventilation is key in breaking down the viral transmission chain, as well as all other bacterial and fungal infections.

“I have been amazed by the excitement and enthusiasm of the children who want to learn how to keep each other safe by cleaning the air and building their own purifiers.”