The personal ventilation hood is a novel technology that provides a physical barrier between a patient and the surrounding environment. The ventilation hood creates a negative pressure within the hood by actively extracting air away from the patient and filters expired air through a HEPA filter. The ventilation hood focuses on elimination and engineering controls that act to control the infection at the point source and isolating healthcare workers from the hazard.

Preliminary data reports that the ventilation hood is capable of removing more than 99.7 per cent of particles larger than 0.5µm and more than 98.1 per cent of particles smaller than 0.5µm (McGain et al., 2020). However, due to novel development, there is currently limited evidence on the effectiveness of wide-scale use of the personal ventilation hood in healthcare settings within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The use of personal ventilation hoods in hospital general, respiratory and ICU wards may be considered by healthcare facilities if deemed necessary and appropriate by relevant stakeholders. If personal ventilation hoods are used, healthcare workers must be appropriately trained, and cleaning and disinfection protocols must be followed according to manufacturer guidelines.