Consider Face Masks As COVID Vaccine, Says Delhi Health Minister

New Delhi: Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Friday encouraged people to wear masks and said everyone should consider them as a vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Hindustan Times (HT) reported.

Benefits of wearing a face mask were at par, if not better than, those of a lockdown, he said. “When we had imposed the lockdown, cases did not go down. If 100 per cent of people wear masks, Covid-19 infection can be controlled to a certain extent. Benefits of wearing masks are just as many as those of a lockdown, if not more. Until there is a vaccine, masks should be considered as vaccines,” he told news agency ANI.

Amid concerns of rising air pollution in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR), he said that wearing masks would also help protect people from air pollution.