Assessment of indoor air quality and the risk of COVID-19 infection in lecture halls and tutorial rooms of a Malaysian university

Mohd Ab Nasir, Siti Aisyah (2023) Assessment of indoor air quality and the risk of COVID-19 infection in lecture halls and tutorial rooms of a Malaysian university. [Project Paper] (Submitted)

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Abstract

Introduction: Users and occupants of university academic buildings including lecture halls and tutorial rooms experience daily exposure of their indoor air quality (IAQ) which could affect the health of the occupants. The health concern adds up with the risk of COVID -19 infection that could be influenced by the level of indoor air quality in the academic buildings. Objective: This study aims to assess the indoor air quality and the risk of COVID-19 infection in Malaysian academic buildings. Method: Purposive sampling was used in the selection of lecture halls and tutorial rooms with mechanical ventilation at different faculties in Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang Campus. Four IAQ parameters (PM2.5, CO2, relative humidity and temperature) were assessed in the study. The risk of COVID-19 infection in study location was calculated using Airborne Infectious Risk Calculator (AIRC) Version 3. SOLIDWORKS was used to develop a model of lecture hall and tutorial room of academic building. Result: All six academic buildings selected for the study recorded acceptable indoor temperature within range between 23–26 oC while five out of six academic building were within the range of acceptable relative humidity of 40%-70%. However, five out of six academic buildings recorded CO2 level of more than 1000 ppm with the highest concentration measured being recorded at 1317.0 ppm. Four academic buildings were recorded to have PM2.5 concentration exceeding 15 μg/m³. The highest risk of COVID-19 infection calculated was 11.4% during the situation of standing and speaking with 3 hours of exposure duration, while the lowest risk calculated was 0.2% during the situation of resting and breathing with 1 hour of exposure. Temperature, relative humidity, PM2.5 and CO2 were found to have Pearson correlation coefficient, r, of 0.602, -0.487, 0.142 and 0.002 respectively. Conclusion: Academic buildings in the study generally have acceptable level of temperature and relative humidity. However, there was a concern on the high concentration of PM2.5 and CO2 level in the academic buildings. It was also found that the risk of COVID-19 infection in lecture halls and tutorial rooms was higher with the increasing duration of occupancy and with the activity of standing and speaking. The study suggested that there was no significant association with pattern of positive correlation between indoor temperature and PM2.5 with the risk of COVID-19 infection. Relative humidity recorded negative correlation with no significant association with the risk of COVID-19 infection. The results indicated that indoor air quality has no significant correlation with the risk of COVID-19 infection, thus extensive studies need to be conducted to find the association between indoor air quality and the risk of COVID-19 infection. Keywords: indoor air quality, SARS-CoV-2 transmission, COVID-19 infection risk, university students, academic buildings

Item Type:	Project Paper
Faculty:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Science
Depositing User:	Ms Norafizah Radzuan
Date Deposited:	05 Apr 2024 04:30
Last Modified:	05 Apr 2024 04:30
URI:	http://psaspb.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/1685

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