'Treat mask as vaccine till we have real medication'

With Delhi reporting over 5000 coronavirus cases a day for the past three days, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain has urged people to treat mask as vaccine till the real medication is made available. He said people should be careful and wear mask.

New Delhi: Expressing concern over the rising cases of COVID-19 in the capital city, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain has said it is "impossible to wipe off" transmission of the virus through a lockdown as it has spread through the community and wearing a face mask should be treated as a vaccine till the real medication is made available.

His remarks come after a massive spike in fresh cases on Friday, the third consecutive day when over 5,000 cases have been registered in a day.

Interacting with the media, the minister said that the lockdown was imposed in the beginning as "it was a new virus then" and its behaviour was totally unpredictable.

"There have been a lot of learning from the lockdown, and a lot was also said that after the 21-day lockdown the virus spread will stop or with temperature going to 40 degrees Celsius, it will stop. Did it stop? So, the learning from that exercise has been that it is impossible to wipe off COVID-19 transmission through a lockdown as the virus has spread through the community," he said when asked if lockdown-like restrictions could be imposed if spike in cases continue.

The other learning from the lockdown has been that the use of mask is an effective way to reduce the spread of the infection, he said.

"So, people should treat wearing a mask as a vaccine till we get the real vaccine, which is expected in a few months," Jain said.

The Centre in late March had announced a nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. From June 8, the central government brought in gradual ''Unlock'', under which restrictions have been eased accordingly.

(with inputs from agencies)