All Austrians will have to wear face masks while shopping to further slow the spread of the coronavirus, the government has announced in a step that contravenes World Health Organisation recommendations.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Austria is one of the European countries that took the earliest and strictest steps against the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus disease.
Besides Austria, the Czech Republic introduced obligatory face masks in public on March 18.
Once supermarket retail chains have received the masks, every shopper will be handed the protective gear when entering stores, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz told a press conference on Monday.
In the medium term, wearing masks will also become obligatory in other situations where people come into close contact, according to the government plan.
The government cautioned that the masks do not protect wearers but are meant to prevent them from spreading infectious cough droplets.
WHO emergency operations chief Mike Ryan said in Geneva that there is no evidence that wearing of masks by the general public has a positive impact.
"In fact there is some evidence that suggests the opposite," he told a press conference.
The WHO has been pointing out that people can contaminate their hands when taking off masks in an incorrect, unsafe manner and that mask-wearers tend to touch their faces more often.
The WHO's chief coronavirus specialist, Maria Van Kerkhove, said that the UN health agency recommends to the public that masks are worn only by patients who are recovering at home and those who care for them.
The number of COVID-19 cases in Austria rose to more than 9000 on Monday, while the number of dead surpassed 100, according to the Health Ministry.
The daily increase of new infections has fallen to an average of 11 per cent during the past four days, far below the peak rate of 40 per cent.
Austria has been under a lockdown for the past two weeks.
Schools have stopped lessons, nearly all shops are shuttered and all restaurants, bars and public venues are closed.
"These measures are not only the rights ones, they also work," Kurz said, adding that they were not enough however.
Wearing masks "will be a big adjustment for us, but it's necessary that we take this step to further reduce transmission," he said.
Australian Associated Press