Coronavirus: face masks save lives, Japanese study says
- Scientists used a computer model to show how Covid-19 death rates were higher in countries where people tended not to cover their mouths
- Obese people less likely to wear masks, study says
Using data collected by British market research company YouGov, the team from Miyazawa Clinic in Hyogo and the University of Houston-Victoria created a computer model to see how various factors affected death rates from the disease in different countries.
By far the most significant was mask wearing, which had a 70 per cent impact on death rates, they said in a paper published on Tuesday on the preprint website Medrxiv.org, which means it has yet to be peer-reviewed.
YouGov asked people in more than 20 countries if they wore a face mask in public. The proportion who answered “yes” was just 21 per cent in Britain but over 90 per cent in some Asian countries.
In China, it is an offence not to wear a face mask in public and several foreigners have been arrested for not doing so. In Japan, most people wear masks but it is not a legal requirement.
As well as the face mask data, the Japanese study also took into account the respondents’ age and body mass index, lead author Dr Daisuke Miyazawa said.