WASHINGTON: A senior US health official has urged the public to stop buying face masks to prevent catching the novel coronavirus stating that they will not help against the spread of the virus.
“Seriously people — STOP BUYING MASKS!” the surgeon general, Jerome Adams, said in a tweet on. “They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching coronavirus, but if health care providers can’t get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!”
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a virus (more specifically, a coronavirus) identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness first detected in Wuhan, China.
Prices of face masks have surged online as people have rushed to buy amid the coronavirus outbreak worldwide.
Price of surgical masks skyrocketed in Karachi earlier this week after two cases of coronavirus were confirmed in Pakistan. A day earlier, authorities recovered more than 70,000 surgical masks from the metropolis.
In another tweet, Adams said the best way to protect against the virus is to wash hands regularly, and for those who are feeling ill to stay home.
