Ultraviolet light is being beamed through public buses and lifts in China to wipe out any possible germs as part of efforts to clear the country of the deadly coronavirus epidemic.

With companies under pressure to meet strict prevention measures for the virus, which has killed more than 3,100 people in China, some are turning to new technology to keep everything clean.

Shanghai public transport firm Yanggao has converted a regular cleaning room into a UV light disinfection chamber for buses — cutting a 40-minute process down to just five minutes.

“After the epidemic happened… we were actively searching for a more efficient disinfection method,” Qin Jin, deputy general manager at Yanggao told AFP.

He said that normally the process required the full attention of two staff, who sprayed disinfectant on surfaces in the bus before wiping them down.

“The problem with this was that it might not reach certain corners,” said Qin.

The group partnered with a technology supplier to set up an ultraviolet cleaning system and now, some of its buses are cleaned by UV rays.

Staff drive one bus at a time into the chamber — which has been equipped with 210 UV tubes — and leave the room before activating the system, bathing the vehicle in a blue-white hue.