Government to pitch for double masking | Economic Times

The government is set to recommend the use of double masking, with one of them being an N-95 mask, as part of non-pharmaceutical interventions aimed at controlling the spread of Covid-19. Officials said a combination of double masking and cross ventilation could curb the spread of all variants of Covid by as much as 80% in the next 20-30 days.“Double masking with the inner layer of N-95 and cross ventilation of homes and establishments are important interventions that reduce infection, as this disease is transmitted mostly through aerosols,” one of the officials told ET. “Zero contact with others is of course impossible, but these measures are the next-best steps that must be taken” as they are effective irrespective of the variant.The official added that with absolutely no outside human contact, the disease can be almost eradicated in 20 days. However, that’s not possible. “But with these measures, we could cut it-off by 70-80%.”Need to Ramp Up ProductionThe government’s estimates and the soon-to-be-issued advisory are based on studies published by The Lancet and the CSIR that said Covid was an airborne disease rather than spread through droplets. “The country needs to come together and manufacturers need to ramp up production of these masks and cloth masks which should be distributed through various government networks and NGOs to quickly help them reach our rural areas as well,” the official said.He added that lockdowns in various states need to be supplemented by measures to provide essential goods to people at homes easily, without which they will find it difficult to minimise human-to-human contact. These steps would help reduce the pressure on the healthcare infrastructure while allowing for vaccination rollouts everywhere, the officials said. “Cases are coming down in the previously high-surge urban areas but we have a larger war to tackle,” the official said. “We need to nip the disease in the bud in the rural areas given the constraints on health infrastructure that cannot be ramped up beyond a point.” He added that the focus of the next wave of advisories from the government would be on how to minimise the surge.According to health ministry data, roughly 10% of India’s 1.35 billion population has received at least one vaccine dose. The government’s estimate of 2 billion doses being available between August and December has been questioned by some experts who say purchase orders need to be placed to support the numbers.