Coronavirus: WHO advises to wear masks in public areas

BBC NEWS

The World Health Organization (WHO) has changed its advice on face masks, saying they should be worn in public to help stop the spread of coronavirus.

The global body said new information showed they could provide "a barrier for potentially infectious droplets".

droplet?/?dr?pl?t/ a small drop of a liquid 小滴

Some countries around the world already recommend or?mandate?the wearing of face coverings in public.

mandate?/?m?nde?t/??授權(quán)；命令，指令；委托管理；受命進行的工作?

The WHO had previously argued there was not enough evidence to say that healthy people should wear masks.

Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's technical lead expert on Covid-19, told Reuters news agency the recommendation was for people to wear a "fabric mask - that is, a non-medical mask".

Reuters news:路透社

The organisation had always advised that medical face masks should be worn by people who are sick and those caring for them.

Globally, there have been 6.7 million confirmed coronavirus cases and nearly 400,000 deaths since the outbreak began late last year, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

What is the WHO's advice?

The organisation said its new guidance had been prompted by?studies over recent weeks. "We are advising governments to encourage that the general public wear a mask," Dr Van Kerkhove said.

prompt??/pr?mpt/?

1，done without delay 立即；迅速的；及時的

Prompt action was required as the fire spread. 由于火勢蔓延，須要立即采取行動。?

2，[ not before noun ] ( of a person 人 ) acting without delay; arriving at the right time 敏捷的；迅速的；準時的,

At the same time, the WHO stressed that face masks were just one of a range of tools that could be used to reduce the risk of transmission?- and that they should not give people a false sense of protection.

transmission??the act or process of passing sth from one person, place or thing to another 傳送；傳遞；傳達；傳播；傳染

"Masks on their own will not protect you from Covid-19," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Big shift in guidance

This is a big shift in the WHO's guidance on when the public should cover their faces. For months, the organisation's experts stuck to the line that masks would encourage a false sense of security and would deprive?medical professionals of badly needed protective equipment.

?stick to：? If you stick to something, you continue doing, using, saying, or talking about it, rather than changing to something else. 堅持

deprive：DE?PRIVE SB/STH OF STH

to prevent sb from having or doing sth, especially sth important 剝奪；使喪失；使不能享有

They were imprisoned and deprived of their basic rights. 他們遭到監(jiān)禁并被剝奪了基本權(quán)利。

Those arguments have not gone away but at the same time the WHO acknowledges that new evidence has emerged on the risks of transmission.

emerged：emerge的過去式 出現(xiàn)，浮現(xiàn)，暴露

It points to recent research that people can be highly infectious in the few days before they show symptoms and that some people catch the virus but never show symptoms at all,?as I reported last weekend.

So where distancing is not possible, such as on public transport and in locations as varied as shops and refugee camps, it is suggested that faces are covered with homemade masks to avoid passing on the infection.

Over 60s with underlying health conditions should go further, the WHO said, and wear medical-grade masks to give themselves better protection.

Over 60s with underlying health conditions：帶有基礎(chǔ)病的60歲以上人群?

What are the latest key developments globally?

In the UK, the government announced on Friday that hospital visitors and out-patients would be required to wear face coverings, and that hospital staff would have to wear medical masks, even if they were not in a clinical setting.

The guidance will come into force on 15 June, as more businesses open up and more pupils return to school. Also on Friday?the UK became the second country to record more than 40,000?coronavirus-related deaths, after the US.

In other developments around the world:

§?With more than 34,000 deaths,?Brazil?overtook Italy to become the country with the third-highest death toll worldwide

§?The?EU?commissioner?for home affairs said member states should reopen their internal borders by end of June

§?Portugal?will start reopening its beaches later on Saturday

§?Meanwhile in?Poland, gyms, swimming pools and amusement parks will be reopened

commissioner?/k??m???n?(r)/. 理事；委員；行政長官；總裁

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