Ghana’s Solar-Powered Hand Washbasin Battles Coronavirus

As the COVID-19 cases soar across the world and given the lack of any effective vaccine or treatment, new inventions are being made to combat the highly contagious coronavirus. Recently, two inventors in Ghana have come up with a solar-powered hand washbasin to promote ultra-hygiene that could ward off the spread of the disease.

Image: Its My Sun

The inventors Richard Kwarteng Aning, who is a 32-year-old leather shoemaker in Kumasi City of Ghana, and his brother Jude Osei have created the hand washbasin to promote the 20-second hand wash hygiene. Apparently, it is the best-known practice to combat coronavirus, as issued by the health and disease control department of governments around the world.

Richard Kwarteng Aning conceived the idea to build the hand washbasin after the government of Ghana announced a two-week lockdown on March 30, 2020. He had only 48 hours before the lockdown was to be implemented, so Richard immediately started working on the idea, sourced the materials and created it by using some of the most common components – a sink, a tap, a motherboard, a solar panel, an alarm and a recycled barrel – easily available in the local market.

Then, Richard installed the basin with the help of an electrician friend and programmed it with his brother to operate whenever hands or any other item came in contact with its sensors.

The solar-powered hand washbasin is timed with a sensor, therefore, as soon as someone places their hands under the tap of the basin, the connected sensors send a signal and the liquid soap oozes out from the tap.

Image: CNN

After that a timed alarm goes on for about 25 seconds, providing enough time for the user to wash their hands for the set time limit. Then, the water flows from the tap to rinse the soaped lather off of the users’ hands and the alarm goes off to signal that the hand wash procedure is complete.

Within the two days of the invention, Ghana’s Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation contacted the brothers and a meeting has been arranged to determine if additional machines can be manufactured and placed in cities throughout the country.

Ghana currently has over 4,000 coronavirus cases. This invention has come at a time when the global pandemic has begun to affect parts of Africa, infecting over 53,000 people.

Via: CNN