Health

Row grows over face masks amid calls to make them compulsory to help ease coronavirus lockdown



A row intensified today over whether masks should be worn by the public when using transport, shopping or working.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan broke ranks with the Government by insisting everyone should wear DIY face-coverings using scarves or bandanas when on the Tube or working in close-quarters with other people.

He was slapped down by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps who claimed it could be “counter-productive” to change the official UK guidance that masks are “no help” in slowing the spread of coronavirus except in medical or care settings.


But ministers were under growing pressure to change the rules as Germany joined the list of European countries saying masks should be worn as lockdown is eased to reduce the risks of an upsurge in Covid-19.

In other key developments:

  • A massive extension of coronavirus testing to police officers, firefighters, prison officers and local authority staff, including those working with vulnerable children, the homeless and rough sleepers was announced by Health Secretary Matt Hancock. The move comes after figures showed tens of thousands of potential tests going to waste, with the Government boosting capacity to 35,000 tests a day but carrying out fewer than 16,000 due to lower take-up by medics and care staff.
  • Gowns were said to be running out in many London hospitals and the BBC even reported that one health trust chief executive had asked the corporation to put him in touch with fashion firm Burberry to obtain garments.
  • After the deaths of a number of bus drivers, Transport for London announced passengers will use middle doors and will not have to touch in with contactless payment cards from Monday.
  • The Transport Secretary suggested it was too soon for people to start trying to book holidays. Asked if people could book flights yet, Mr Shapps said: “I won’t be booking a summer holiday at this point, put it that way.”
  • Captain Tom Moore, 99, decided to keep walking laps of his garden because people were still donating to his NHS fundraising appeal which has now topped £18 million. His daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore said: “Tom is clear that as long as people believe that he’s worth investing in, he will keep walking.”
  • German leader Angela Merkel is the latest convert to face masks, declaring yesterday that masks should be adopted on public transport and when shopping.

Angela Merkel Explained The Effect Of Covid-19 On The Country’s Health System

Expert calls for masks on the Tube and other settings where crowds cannot effectively practise social-distancing have been growing all week, including from World Health Organisation expert David Nabarro, former health secretary Jeremy Hunt, and data scientist Jeremy Howard, who led a global expert review of whether masks were effective for the current pandemic.

But the Government currently says that surgical masks only provide significant protection to individuals in medical and care settings and that the general public could unwittingly pick up infections when adjusting them.

Mr Khan said that if everybody wears them, even home-made masks using scarves or neckerchiefs would dramatically reduce gusts of  coronavirus-carrying particles from breath, coughs and sneezes.

“I’m keen to ensure that everyone is safe,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “For this to be effective, all of us will have to wear the covering in those sorts of circumstances.”

He said he would use a mask when leaving lockdown. He was lobbying for a rule that anyone who cannot keep a distance from others should wear a non-medical facial covering.

“When it comes to exiting lockdown, we may need to have all of us wearing it as well,” he added.

Mr Khan had a showdown with ministers at yesterday’s Cobra emergency committee, when he presented evidence from “colleagues around the world” that masks could help. “It’s really important that we are no longer an outlier here,” the Mayor told BBC Breakfast.

Mr Shapps said it was “not the right moment” to encourage masks and Mr Khan could do “more harm than good”.  He said evidence showed wearing them on public transport “could be counterproductive”.

“Rather than jump to the incorrect conclusion and do more harm than good, I think it’s right to ask the scientists to provide guidance on it,” the Cabinet minister said. “It looks like it’s quite a marginal case. But if the scientists come out and say ‘this is actually what people need to do’, then fine, we’ll absolutely ask people to do that.”

All you need to know from the April 16 UK coronavirus briefing

Later on LBC, he said Mr Khan himself conceded in a letter that masks “could be counterproductive” and added: “I’m slightly confused by the approach.”

However, the Government appeared to be heading for a U-turn.  A report in the Daily Mail said minsters were considering making masks a requirement in offices and on transport.

Listen to The Leader: Coronavirus Daily podcast

Last night, when being challenged by the Standard at the daily press conference to explain how the Government reached its policy on masks, chief medical officer Chris Whitty appeared to concede that the stance was influenced by the national shortage of medical-quality masks. He also revealed that a review of the policy was now “a very live issue” among expert advisers.



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