WHO says children above 12 years should wear masks like adults to reduce risk of COVID-19

The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued guidance saying children aged 12 and above should wear masks to avoid contracting COVID-19 under the same conditions as adults, whereas children between the ages six and 11 should wear them on a risk-based approach.

Children aged 12 and over should especially wear a mask when a one-metre distance from others cannot be maintained and there is widespread transmission in the area, the WHO and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday.

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The organisations advised that children between six and 11 should wear masks taking into account the intensity of transmission in the area, the child’s exposure to high-risk individuals, access to masks and adequate adult supervision, the two organisations said.  Children aged five years and under should not be required to wear a mask under normal circumstances, it said.

The WHO said that older children are more likely to transmit coronavirus than younger children, adding more data was needed to better understand the role of children and adolescents in the transmission of COVID-19. The UN health body had earlier advised people to wear masks in public to reduce the spread of the infection but did not issue specific guidance for children.

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COVID-19 can end before 2 years

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has expressed hope that the world can get rid of the coronavirus pandemic in less than two years - lesser time than it took to stop the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic.

‘The world can end the coronavirus pandemic in less than two years’, Tedros, said while addressing the reporters from the WHO's headquarters in Geneva, insisting that it should be possible to tame the novel coronavirus spread faster than the deadly 1918 pandemic.

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Calling the COVID- 19 pandemic 'once-in-a-century health crisis' Tedros, asserted that globalisation had allowed the virus to spread quicker than the Spanish flu did in 1918, there was also now the technology to stop it that hadn’t been available a century ago. He said by utilising the available tools to the maximum and additional tools like vaccines can finish the virus spread in a shorter time than the 1918 flu.

The global coronavirus figures have reached 22.5 million and the death cases have reached close to 8 lakh mark. The total number of cases stands at 22,593,363 and the fatalities have risen to 792,396 across the globe. The United States continues to be the worst affected country with the highest number of caseloads and deaths. The country has reported 5,573,501 cases and 173,114 deaths so far. Meanwhile, Brazil and India are next in the list with 3,501,975 and 2,905,823 cases respectively.

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