Indian Government Warns States Regarding Use Of Valved N-95 MasksOn the 20th of July, the Central Government, written to governments of all states and union territories regarding the usage of the N-95 masks.
The Central Government asked states and union territories to not use N-95 masks with valved respirator by people.
The Director General of Health Services in the Ministry of Health, wrote a letter to the Principal Secretaries of health and medical education of all states.
In the letter Rajiv Garg, the DG of Health Services said, it is “inappropriate use” of N-95 masks, particularly those with valved respirator, by the public other than designated health workers.”
The letter further read, “It is to bring to your knowledge that the use of valved respirator N-95 masks is detrimental to the measures adopted for preventing the spread of coronavirus as it does not prevent the virus from escaping out of the mask. In view of the above, I request you to instruct all concerned to follow the use of face/mouth cover and prevent inappropriate use of N-95 masks.”
The Union Health Department official said these masks with valved respirator does not prevent the virus from spreading out and are “detrimental” to the measures adopted for its containment.
Wearing face masks is an important precaution taken by the Union Government with an issued advisory.
The advisory issued by the respective Indian state governments and the Central Government read, “Never share the face cover with anyone. Every member in a family should have separate face cover.”
A cloth face mask is important prevention measure in places where it can be hard to stay 6 feet away from others, like grocery stores, bus stands, markets and other public places is mandatory.
Wearing face masks could reduce the chances of being in contact with the virus by 70% to 80 %.
Expert medical research and studies show that people can spread Coronavirus even if they don’t have symptoms (called asymptomatic) or before they have symptoms (called presymptomatic.) In fact, you might be the most contagious just before the symptoms begin.
Meanwhile, India crossed 1.5 million cases of the Novel Coronavirus and globally the cases crossed 14 millions.
Stay tuned for further updates
