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By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA (Reuters) – The World Health Organization on Wednesday tightened guidelines for wearing face masks, recommending that where COVID-19 is spreading, they be worn by everyone in healthcare facilities and for all interactions in poorly ventilated interior spaces.
In June, the WHO urged governments to ask everyone to wear cloth masks in indoor and outdoor public spaces where there was a risk of transmitting the virus.
Since then, a second global wave of the epidemic has accelerated. In all, more than 63 million people worldwide have contracted COVID-19 and 1.475 million have died from it, according to a Reuters tally.
In a more detailed notice released on Wednesday, the WHO said that where the epidemic is spreading, people – including children and students aged 12 and over – should always wear masks in stores, workplaces and schools that lack adequate ventilation, and when they receive visitors at home in poorly ventilated rooms.
Masks should also be worn outdoors and in well-ventilated indoor spaces where a physical distance of at least one meter (3 feet) cannot be maintained.
In all scenarios, the masks – which protect against transmission of the virus rather than infection – had to be accompanied by other precautions such as hand washing, the WHO said.
In areas of the spread of COVID-19, he also advised the “universal” wearing of medical masks in health care establishments, including when taking care of other patients.
The advice applied to visitors, outpatients and common areas such as cafeterias and staff rooms.
Healthcare workers can wear N95 respirator masks if they are available when treating COVID-19 patients, but their only proven protection is when performing aerosol-generating procedures that carry higher risks, said WHO.
He recommended that people engaged in vigorous physical activity not to wear a mask, citing some associated risks, especially for people with asthma.
Adequate ventilation, physical separation and disinfection of “hard-touch surfaces” in the gymnasium should be maintained, or their temporary closure should be considered, he added.
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Michael Shields and John Stonestreet)
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