UK urged to use medical face masks to combat spread of new Covid variants

Scientists are urging people in Britain to follow Europe’s lead and wear medical-grade face masks as concerns grow over new highly contagious variants of Covid-19.

But any face covering is better than none at all, they said.

Germany has already made it compulsory for full protective filtering face piece (FFP) masks to be worn on public transport and in shops despite initial concern that medical-grade face coverings should be reserved for health workers.

France’s Haut Conseil de Santé Publique (high council for public health – HCSP) decided over the weekend that many cloth masks, often preferred because they can be washed and reused, did not guarantee protection against the new variants.

"Category 2 or material masks only filter 70 per cent, while category 1 masks, like surgical masks, can go as high as 95 per cent if worn properly. As the variant is more easily transmitted, it is logical to use masks with the highest filtering power,” Daniel Camus, of the Pasteur Institute in Lille and a HCSP member told France Info.

Dr Allen Haddrell at the University of Bristol’s Aerosol Research Centre told the Guardian: “People should be using the best mask available to them, and the government should make it as clear as possible as to what this means.

“Increasing the number of people correctly wearing high-quality masks will dramatically limit the degree to which Sars-CoV-2 can be spread through the aerosol phase. No mask is 100 per cent efficient, but some are definitely much less effective than others.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) currently recommends that medical or surgical masks should be worn by healthcare workers, people with Covid-19 symptoms, those caring for someone with suspected Covid-19, and anyone aged 60 or over, and those with underlying medical conditions where distancing of at least 1 metre cannot be achieved.

Customers and vendors at the food and drink market will face a £50 fine if they do not wear a face covering in and around the stalls.

The rule can be enforced thanks to the market’s own set of bylaws passed in Parliament, which date back to before the Victorian era and have been updated to reflect the pandemic.

Earlier in the pandemic,  researchers found one layer of cotton T-shirt material is fairly effective as a barrier against droplets expelled during speaking.

But three layers would be even better, the researchers said, and the study found surgical disposable masks offer the best protection of all.

Experts from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, concluded: “From the captured video it can be observed that, for speaking, a single-layer cloth face covering reduced the droplet spread but a double-layer covering performed better.

“Even a single-layer face covering is better than no face covering. However, a double-layer cloth face covering was significantly better at reducing the droplet spread caused by coughing and sneezing.

“A surgical mask was the best among all the tested scenarios in preventing droplet spread from any respiratory emission.

“These visualisations show the value of using face masks and the difference between types of masks.”

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