Use Of Facemask Can Save 95% People From Pandemic: Dr. Ahsan Aurangzeb

As the second wave of COVID-19 surges in Pakistan NCOC issued SOPs to cope with the lethality of the outbreak and directed masses to use face masks as a must

ABBOTTABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 27th Nov, 2020 ) :As the second wave of COVID-19 surges in Pakistan NCOC issued SOPs to cope with the lethality of the outbreak and directed masses to use face masks as a must.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also included face masks in their recommendations for slowing the spread of the Coronavirus, the CDC recommended cloth face masks for the public and not the surgical and N95 masks needed by health care providers.

Director Ayub Teaching Hospital (ATH) Abbottabad Dr. Ahsan Aurangzeb told APP that experts gave a name to the virus as "Novel" Coronavirus (CoV) which was a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans".

He further said that the use of a face mask is one of the precautionary measures which can save up to 95 percent of people from Coronavirus, in Turkey all businesses are open but facemask is mandatory for all which has protected them from the pandemic, adding he said.

Clustering is a major cause of increasing Coronavirus in the winter when many people of a home or offices or elsewhere gathered around the heater or in a room infects each other rapidly, stating Dr. Ahsan Aurangzeb said.

How many people of Pakistan are following the directives issued by the government of Pakistan to protect their selves and their loved once by wearing a face mask while going outside the homes, APP Abbottabad conducted a survey in district Abbottabad and Haripur that how many people using a face mask in the wake of COVID-19.

The data gathered from 200 vehicles of local public transport, 200 personal cars, 300 motorcyclists, 500 pedestrians, district courts of Abbottabad and Haripur, major shopping malls, grocery stores and some government offices showed the results that overall 45 percent of people are using a face mask in both districts.

According to the statistical analysis of the data gathered from both districts showed us that 70 percent of the legal fraternity and their litigants were using face masks while in district courts nobody can enter without a mask.

40 percent of people while traveling in local public transport were wearing face masks where only 10 percent of drivers found using the masks. 40 percent of motorcyclists were using face masks while 25 percent of the people using personal vehicles found with face masks.

The lowest ratio of using face masks was found in pedestrians where 500 people were observed in both districts and the ratio was 10 percent. The other lowest facemasks wearing were found proprietors and the salesmen of the grocery stores and other shops their ratio also remained below 10 percent, interestingly in the major superstores of both districts all staff was using face masks which was also encouraging for the visitors.

In some government departments including AC, DC offices, District Courts and police stations entry of people without masks was totally banned, in some government offices face mask is not mandatory where most of the employees and visitors were seen without face masks.