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DPA
Vienna
ALL Austrians will have to wear face masks while shopping to further slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, the government announced on Monday, in a step that contravenes World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations.
Austria is one of the European countries that took the earliest and strictest steps against the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus disease. Besides Austria, the Czech Republic introduced obligatory face masks in public on March 18.
Once supermarket retail chains have received the masks, every shopper will be handed the protective gear when entering stores, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz told a press conference.
In the medium term, wearing masks will also become obligatory in other situations where people come into close contact, according to the government plan.
The government cautioned that the masks do not protect wearers, but are meant to prevent them from spreading infectious cough droplets.
WHO emergency operations chief Mike Ryan said in Geneva that there is no evidence that wearing of masks by the general public has a positive impact.
“In fact there is some evidence that suggests the opposite,” he told a press conference. The WHO has been pointing out that people can contaminate their hands when taking off masks in an incorrect, unsafe manner, and that mask-wearers tend to touch their faces more often.
The WHO’s chief coronavirus specialist, Maria Van Kerkhove, said that the UN health agency recommends to the public that masks are worn only by patients who are recovering at home and those who care for them. The number of Covid-19 coronavirus disease cases in Austria rose to above 9,000 on Monday, while the number of dead surpassed 100, according to the Health Ministry.
Vienna
ALL Austrians will have to wear face masks while shopping to further slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, the government announced on Monday, in a step that contravenes World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations.
Austria is one of the European countries that took the earliest and strictest steps against the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus disease. Besides Austria, the Czech Republic introduced obligatory face masks in public on March 18.
Once supermarket retail chains have received the masks, every shopper will be handed the protective gear when entering stores, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz told a press conference.
In the medium term, wearing masks will also become obligatory in other situations where people come into close contact, according to the government plan.
The government cautioned that the masks do not protect wearers, but are meant to prevent them from spreading infectious cough droplets.
WHO emergency operations chief Mike Ryan said in Geneva that there is no evidence that wearing of masks by the general public has a positive impact.
“In fact there is some evidence that suggests the opposite,” he told a press conference. The WHO has been pointing out that people can contaminate their hands when taking off masks in an incorrect, unsafe manner, and that mask-wearers tend to touch their faces more often.
The WHO’s chief coronavirus specialist, Maria Van Kerkhove, said that the UN health agency recommends to the public that masks are worn only by patients who are recovering at home and those who care for them. The number of Covid-19 coronavirus disease cases in Austria rose to above 9,000 on Monday, while the number of dead surpassed 100, according to the Health Ministry.
