WHO’s New Guidelines: Wear Mask Indoors If Ventilation Is Poor

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Geneva: The World Health Organization (WHO) has tightened guidelines on wearing face mask amid a second global wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to its latest recommendation, mask should be worn by everyone in healthcare facilities and those leaving in poorly-ventilated indoor spaces in places where COVID-19 is spreading.

WHO had earlier urged governments to ask everyone to wear masks in indoor and outdoor public areas where there was a risk of transmission of novel coronavirus, Reuters reports.

In an advisory issued on Wednesday, the WHO said that in places and areas where the epidemic was spreading, people — including children and students aged 12 or over — should always wear masks in shops, workplaces and schools that lack adequate ventilation, and also while receiving visitors at home in poorly-ventilated rooms.

Mask should also be worn in well ventilated indoor spaces where physical distancing of at least one meter (3 ft) cannot be maintained.

WHO added that in all cases, masks have to be accompanied by other precautions like washing of hands.

Over 63 million people have so far been affected by coronavirus worldwide, while nearly 1. 5 million people have lost their lives.