Coronavirus: Chinese scientist advises people in Europe, US to wear face masks in public

People who don’t cover their mouths are making a big mistake, says director general of Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention

Advice comes as number of confirmed infections in US nears 105,000

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Buskers perform without face masks on the streets of Paris. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 10:00pm, 28 Mar 2020Updated: 11:42pm, 28 Mar 2020

People in the United States and Europe are wrong not to wear face masks in public during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the head of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

“The big mistake in the US and Europe, in my opinion, is that people aren’t wearing masks,” Gao Fu, the agency’s director general, said in an interview with Science Magazine, one of the world’s leading academic journals.

“This virus is transmitted by droplets and close contact,” he said. “Droplets play a very important role – you’ve got to wear a mask, because when you speak, there are always droplets coming out of your mouth.”

Not everyone agrees with Gao’s assessment, however. The World Health Organisation (WHO), for instance, says that only people showing symptoms of infection or those caring for someone that has Covid-19 needs to wear a face mask.

The European and US disease control and prevention centres take a similar view to the WHO.

But Gao said people should err on the side of caution.

“Many people have asymptomatic or presymptomatic infections,” he said. “If they are wearing face masks, it can prevent droplets that carry the virus from escaping and infecting others.”

In its latest public advisory issued on March 22, the Chinese CDC said that people need not wear face masks when they are at home, in the open air, or in an environment where there is good airflow and no crowds. However, they should still wear them in the office, meeting rooms, lifts and on public transport.