A thermal disinfecting tool for disinfecting surfaces bounding or located inside a fixed volume of air , the thermal disinfecting tool comprising: a housing defining one or more inlets and one or more outlets , wherein air enters the housing through the one or more inlets and exits the housing through the one or more outlets ; a heater configured to generate heat, wherein the heater is disposed within the housing downstream of the one or more inlets and upstream of the one or more outlets ; one or more processors in electronic communication with the heater ; and a memory coupled to the one or more processors , characterised in that , the memory stores a time to inactivation plot for a specific pathogen that indicates a deactivation time for the specific pathogen over a range of temperatures, and wherein the memory stores data into one or more databases and program code that, when executed by the one or more processors , causes the thermal disinfecting tool to: receive a signal indicating a current inlet temperature of air entering the one or more inlets of the housing ; compare the current inlet temperature of the air with a target temperature located on the time to inactivation plot stored in the memory ; in response to determining the current inlet temperature is less than the target temperature , calculate a disinfection rate for the surfaces bounding or located within the fixed volume of air based on the time to inactivation plot for each current inlet temperature up to the target temperature , wherein the disinfection rate indicates a period of time required to deactivate the specific pathogen disposed on the surfaces bounding or located within the fixed volume of air at the current inlet temperature until the target temperature is reached; and instruct the heater to generate heat for the period of time required to deactivate the specific pathogen. a housing defining one or more inlets and one or more outlets , wherein air enters the housing through the one or more inlets and exits the housing through the one or more outlets ; a heater configured to generate heat, wherein the heater is disposed within the housing downstream of the one or more inlets and upstream of the one or more outlets ; one or more processors in electronic communication with the heater ; and receive a signal indicating a current inlet temperature of air entering the one or more inlets of the housing ; compare the current inlet temperature of the air with a target temperature located on the time to inactivation plot stored in the memory ; in response to determining the current inlet temperature is less than the target temperature , calculate a disinfection rate for the surfaces bounding or located within the fixed volume of air based on the time to inactivation plot for each current inlet temperature up to the target temperature , wherein the disinfection rate indicates a period of time required to deactivate the specific pathogen disposed on the surfaces bounding or located within the fixed volume of air at the current inlet temperature until the target temperature is reached; and instruct the heater to generate heat for the period of time required to deactivate the specific pathogen. <EOS>