People flout Covid-19 safety norms by not wearing face mask in Patna. (TOI photo)
NEW DELHI: The usage of maks in India has declined drastically to below 60% — the lowest since December 2020 — raising concerns among the health authorities who termed it a “danger zone” for protection against Covid-19. It is even below pre-second wave level, they said.
Calling it a “reality check”, NITI Aayog’s member (health), Dr VK Paul, cited data from the Institute of Health Metrics (IHME) depicting how very few people are using masks at present.
This assumes significance as many countries are witnessing a major surge in Covid cases, some despite large scale vaccination. Besides, in the wake of emergence of the new variant, Omicron, usage of masks has become even more crucial to prevent transmission.
“According to this estimate, we are worse off now than we were before the last surge in Covid cases. In a way, we have again come to a danger zone technically. From the point of view of protection capability, we are now operating at a low level and unacceptable level, risky level,” Paul said, adding: “We are again warning along with the scientific community that it is not yet time to get rid of our masks.” Emphasising that mask is a “universal social vaccine”, which needs to be worn even when a person has been vaccinated, officials underlined that global situation is very “disturbing” with some countries witnessing large number of cases.
According to the IHME data, at the start of December last, mask usage was about 65%. As the number of active cases in the country went down, so did the use of masks, dropping to around 60% by mid-February 2021, the data showed. However, as active cases started increasing, so did mask usage.
Use of masks peaked to over 80% between May and June this year, around the time when the country witnessed a devastating second wave of Covid-19.
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People flout Covid-19 safety norms by not wearing face mask in Patna. (TOI photo)NEW DELHI: The usage of maks in India has declined drastically to below 60% — the lowest since December 2020 — raising concerns among the health authorities who termed it a “danger zone” for protection against Covid-19. It is even below pre-second wave level, they said. Calling it a “reality check”, NITI Aayog’s member (health), Dr VK Paul, cited data from the Institute of Health Metrics (IHME) depicting how very few people are using masks at present. This assumes significance as many countries are witnessing a major surge in Covid cases, some despite large scale vaccination. Besides, in the wake of emergence of the new variant, Omicron, usage of masks has become even more crucial to prevent transmission. “According to this estimate, we are worse off now than we were before the last surge in Covid cases. In a way, we have again come to a danger zone technically. From the point of view of protection capability, we are now operating at a low level and unacceptable level, risky level,” Paul said, adding: “We are again warning along with the scientific community that it is not yet time to get rid of our masks.” Emphasising that mask is a “universal social vaccine”, which needs to be worn even when a person has been vaccinated, officials underlined that global situation is very “disturbing” with some countries witnessing large number of cases. According to the IHME data, at the start of December last, mask usage was about 65%. As the number of active cases in the country went down, so did the use of masks, dropping to around 60% by mid-February 2021, the data showed. However, as active cases started increasing, so did mask usage. Use of masks peaked to over 80% between May and June this year, around the time when the country witnessed a devastating second wave of Covid-19. FacebookTwitterLinkedinEMail