Study Shows 50 pc People Still Do not Wear Masks: Health Ministry

Mumbai: The Union Health Ministry on Thursday said that 50 per cent of people still do not wear a mask while 64 per cent of the people who do wear masks, do not cover the nose, according to a study.

Health ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said that eight states in the country have more than 1 lakh active cases, 9 states have between 50,000- 1 lakh active cases and 19 states have less than 50,000 active cases.

“Some states like Karnataka and West Bengal that are showing positivity of over 25 per cent which remain a concern,” said Luv Agarwal.

“If one person does not follow physical distancing, then that person can infect 406 persons in a single month”, said Agarwal.

“I would like to request that physical distancing is the most important social vaccine in terms of Covid-19 management, in terms of critical intervention”, he added.

He further said, “Similarly, the use of masks is also important. If an infected person and a non-infected person do not wear a mask, then there are 90 per cent chances of transmission of infection. But, if those two persons follow social distancing and wear masks, then the infection risk is almost negligible.”

Meanwhile, India reported 2,59,591 new COVID-19 cases and 4,209 deaths in the last 24 hours. The cumulative caseload in India now stands at 2,60,31,991. There are 30,27,925 active COVID cases in the country, the Ministry said. As many as 2,91,331 people have succumbed to the COVID-19 infection in India, while the recovery tally has mounted to 2,27,12,735.

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