In parts of Asia, mask-wearing has been a key response to the outbreak.
The use of face masks in Asia during the coronavirus outbreak has been far more widespread than in the West, where governments have urged people to reserve supplies for frontline medical staff, so have they helped limit infections?
In parts of Asia, mask-wearing has been a key response to the outbreak, with Japan's government announcing Wednesday each household would get two reusable cloth versions, and Hong Kongers not only wearing them but sending them to relatives abroad. The use of masks in parts of Asia with relatively low numbers of infections and deaths from the virus, including Japan and Hong Kong, has led some to theorise mask-wearing is making the difference.Ben Cowling, a professor at the University of Hong Kong's School of Public Health, instead credits a range of public health measures implemented in these countries.
He attributes the smaller outbreaks to measures including contact tracing, good coordination, social distancing"and a general public that has been quite worried from the start and willing to work with health authorities".The World Health Organization's position remains that mask-wearing for the general public is not advised, emphasising a global shortage of masks and the desperate need to route available supplies to frontline health workers.
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