??

N95 mask with valve

Director General of Health Services (DGHS) Dr Rajiv Garg, under the Ministry of Health, has urged all states and union territories to take into notice that N-95 masks with valved respirators will not help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The letter, issued by Dr Garg on July 20 to the Principal Secretaries of health and medical education of states, mentions, It has been observed that there is inappropriate use of the N-95 mask (particular with valved respirator) by the public other than designated health workers. In this regard, I would like to draw your attention to the Advisory on the use of home-made protective cover for dace and mouth available on the website of MoHFW, Government of India.

It is to bring to your knowledge that the use of valved respirator N-95 masks is detrimental to measures adopted for preventing the spread of Coronavirus as it does not prevent the virus from escaping out of the mask. In the view of the above, I request you to instruct all concerned to follow the guidelines on the use of face mouth cover and prevent inappropriate use of N-95 masks, said Garg.

Letter

Tips by Advisory:

The DGHS advised the use of homemade protective cover for face and mouth that are available on the website of the Ministry of Health. The advisory also stressed that the face masks must be washed and cleaned each day as instructed.

Also, as per the advisory, any used cotton cloth can be used to make this face cover.

Further, it stated that the fabric should be washed properly in boiling water (with some added salt) for five minutes and dried well before using it as face mask.