tests on hamsters indicate that the use of masks significantly reduces the spread of the coronavirus, said Sunday experts from the university of hong Kong. These searches are among the first to explore whether wearing a mask can prevent carriers symptomatic or asymptomatic of the virus Covid-19 to infect other individuals. Led by professor Yuen Kwok-yung, a recognised expert in coronaviruses, the researchers placed cages containing hamsters previously infected close to those of animals in good health.
surgical masks have been placed between the two cages, with a flow of air from the cage of sick animals to healthy animals. The results showed that the transmission of the virus was reduced by more than 60 % when the masks were in place. Two-thirds of the hamsters healthy have been infected in a week when the masks were not in place. The infection rate is dropped to a little more than 15 % when the masks were placed on the cage of infected animals, and to 35 % when they were placed on the cage of the hamsters healthy.
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The port of the universal mask is really important
“It is very clear that the masks can be used on the infected individuals […] is more important than anything else,” responded Yuen Kwok-yung in front of journalists. “We now know that a large part of those infected do not show symptoms, therefore the port’s universal mask is really important “, he added.
professor Yuen is one of the micro-biologists who have discovered the Sars virus when it emerged in 2003 and caused some 300 deaths in hong Kong. He pleaded very early in favor of mask-wearing by the general population. Four months after the onset of the first case of Covid-19 in China, hong Kong is able to limit the number of cases at a thousand, which have only four dead. The experts believe that the use of masks as well as large campaigns, testing and tracking are the reasons for this success, in a city of 7.5 million people neighbouring China.
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