Anand Parthasarathy
September 6 2021: With many Indian cities finding a place in the dubious list  of the world’s most  airt polluted places, a room air purifier has become a necessary fixture in many urban homes. And with the Coronavirus pandemic posing yet another threat to health, an air purifier that can also   neutralise the threat of novel coronavirus hanging in the air is something on many a wish list.
So I was happy to have an opportunity to try out a product that claims to perform these dual functions, even as it shrinks the form factor to something handy and portable.
O2Cure a brand  under Zeco Aircon, has recently launched a handy  mini air purifier weighing just 300 grams, which is primarily meant to be used in a car ( it sits snugly in the cup holder next to the driver). However there are other use cases – next to your desk or PC/laptop as you ( increasingly these days) work-from-home. It is powered   through a USB connecter, so can easily be worked from the same USB port used to charge phones.
The mini airpurifier  uses three stages of purification, activated  carbon, a HEPA filter and something called Violeds, a UV-LED based cleaning technology. O2Cure was a participant in this development and is the only brand of purifier to bring this technology to India.  Since the combo can address particles as small as .001 microns.
On first use, it is necessary to  take out the HEPA filter from its packing and install it in the purifier… instructions for this are fairly simple.  Once switched on there are  3 buttons to set the fan speed  from green, yellow and red, depending on how bad the air. The makers suggest it can also be carried  and used these days by those who ride hired taxis , to ensure that any danger from a previous occupant is neutralised.
The mini air purifier is currently available at Amazon at a discounted price of Rs 7699. A welcome  and affordable ally against the dangers in the air around us today!
For a brief on key technologies in O2Cure systems see Image of the Day