Coronavirus is taking public health and the global economy by storm and spreading mercilessly, causing a previously unthinkable amount of problems for both people and businesses, and the costs will just keep on adding up for months to come, but it isn't all so bleak for one Sisak company.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes on the 19th of March, 2020, although the extent of the damage this situation will cause to the economy can for the moment only be estimated, there are also companies that are unlikely to even feel the effects of the coronavirus crisis, but will actually experience growth during these harsh conditions. One of them is Mozon from Sisak, which deals with ozone technology, which, after fluoride, is the strongest known oxidizer and is widely used in disinfection.

As explained by Zdravko Medved, the director of this Sisak company, ozone breaks down chemicals to basic, naturally occurring particles and is now widely used in the air and water disinfection industry.

"Ozone technology offers many benefits - it's effective at room temperature, it leaves no chemical traces (ozone is converted into oxygen), and it provides greater guarantees against pathogenic bacteria and other micro-organisms such as viruses.

Furthermore, the regular use of ozone saves on the use of chemicals, energy and water. In medicine, it's used as a sterilising agent for operating rooms, hospitals, dispensaries and waiting rooms,'' says Medved, adding that other extremely important uses of ozone should also be mentioned - as a water and air steriliser, in cooling and heating systems, in industrial plants, in post-fire restoration, in chemical synthesis, in soil maintenance, in ecology, in wastewater disposal, etc.

Ozone deactivates the SARS virus extremely quickly and efficiently, and various studies in the world have proved that to be true. Back in 2011, Zdravko Medved began cooperation with an international team of experts who wanted to extend the application of ozone to the area of ​​Southeastern Europe

"Scientists who are actively researching coronavirus have learned that viral particles can be dangerous for up to nine days when remaining in a space outside of the human body. Ozone is generally superior to other disinfectants because it reacts with all particles in the area while other disinfectants cover their share of the ''pest'' spectrum.

''Most scientific efforts on the effects of ozone have focused on the propensity of ozone to separate lipid molecules. Indeed, once a virus's lipid envelope is fragmented, its DNA or RNA nucleus cannot survive,'' explains Medved.

From this Sisak company, they point out that research has shown that precisely where large numbers of people from different parts of the world fluctuate, and that these areas of frequent human movement are an ideal place for the spread of pathogens by harmful airborne microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, fungi).

Therefore, they say, ozone is currently in high demand across the world and is very regularly used in the disinfection of various spaces where there is a great fluctuation of people - hospitals, ambulances and public transport, hotels, halls, convention centres, cafes, bus stations, trains, airports, schools, kindergartens, retirement homes, gyms, changing rooms, and so forth.

One of the world's busiest airports, more precisely the one in Dubai, has injected ozone into its very central air-conditioning system so that all buildings are enriched with this oxidant, while the airport in Shanghai is cleaned with ozone-enriched water.

This Sisak-based company came to ''life'' about ten years ago when Medved began collaborating with an international team of technology and innovation experts who wanted to expand the use of ozone into Southeastern Europe.

"Soon, the need to set up a company that would carry out all the activities in the region emerged, which is how Mozon came to be. We're continuing to cooperate with the world's top experts, but we also have our own laboratory and facilities in Sisak where we test and develop our products. We cover the whole region, and in addition to Croatia, we mostly work in Slovenia,'' Zdravko Medved stated.

Mozon states that they are able to partner with companies to offer ozone application solutions ranging from domestic use to use in large industrial plants.

Ozone is most widely used in Croatia for water disinfection since the water from water pumps is loaded with heavy metals and the chlorine doesn't help. Additionally, all water bottlers use ozone to disinfect their bottles and their other equipment. When it comes to space disinfection, this Sisak company mostly works alongside hotels, public transport companies and pharmacies.

Thus, in Croatia's southernmost city of Dubrovnik, they disinfected the entire public transport fleet which belongs to the company Libertas-Dubrovnik, just over the border in Bosnia and Herzegovina in Medjugorje, they dealt with accommodation and social facilities, and in Zagreb, they created the conditions for the transition from the old chlorinated pool water base to the new ozone disinfection base.

This current, ongoing situation with the coronavirus is also new to them, but they stress that they are fully prepared and have already offered their help to the Croatian Institute of Public Health.

"We've been getting a lot of inquiries over recent days about disinfecting all sorts of spaces, but part of our capacity has been made available to combat the spread of this virus. Just for comparison, the Italian region of Veneto has ordered the disinfection of all public transport vehicles including vessels in Venice, offices and other city premises are being ozonised, while in the city of Taranto in the Puglia region, all of the schools are being treated with ozone as part of a coronavirus prevention programme. Its wide-spread secret lies in the fact that it is the strongest natural disinfectant and no harmful by-products remain after it is used,'' concluded the director of this Sisak company.

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