“Our scientists are saying they have evidence that anyone who has Covid-19, if they wear masks, the level of excretion of the virus exhaled is much, much, much reduced. There is evidence that with a mask we can actually protect the next person from getting the infection,” said Mkhize.
“We are recommending that people use cloth masks and just make sure it’s a three-layer. Cloth masks are easy and not expensive to make, reusable and help reduce the transmission of Covid-19 by acting like a shield to contain the respiratory droplets through which the virus spreads,” he said.
“We’d like to reserve the specialised masks … for those who are dealing with intense infections in hospitals,” he said.
He said wearing a mask, hand-washing and social distancing remain the most important interventions to reduce the spread of the coronavirus, and mask wearing would be crucially important when the lockdown is lifted, particularly as people ventured out to use public transport and into crowded areas.
