Dyson has unveiled a new cordless vacuum cleaner that it says is powerful enough to pick up virus particles around the home.

The British tech firm said the Gen5detect is its most powerful cordless vacuum ever and has been engineered to capture 99.99% of particles.

The device includes filtration technology that fully seals the machine to keep in any captured particles, Dyson said.

Dyson Gen5detect vacuum cleaner
(Dyson/PA)

The company’s own research has found that 95% of people say they are cleaning their homes just as much, if not more, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Gen5detect also includes a special cleaner head that projects a blade of light across the floor to illuminate dust particles otherwise invisible to the naked eye, which Dyson says can help users clean more precisely.

James Dyson, the firm’s founder and chief engineer, said the Gen5detect defined the company’s “next generation of cleaning technology” and offered “our deepest ever clean”.

Charlie Park, vice president of floor care, said: “The best filter cannot provide clean air if there is an opportunity for dirty air to leak out of the machine – so our engineers worked hard to ensure that all our Dyson vacuums have whole-machine filtration.

“In our Gen5detect vacuum, we went a step further with Hepa (high-efficiency particulate absorbing) filtration to ensure that even virus particles as small as 0.1 microns remain trapped in the machine.”

Dyson has not confirmed a price or release date for the new cleaner.