Illustration of surgical masks. - Nicolas Datiche / SIPA

Tests on hamsters show that the use of masks significantly reduces the spread of the coronavirus, experts from the University of Hong Kong said on Sunday. This research is among the first to study whether wearing a mask can prevent symptomatic or asymptomatic carriers of the Covid-19 virus from infecting other individuals.

Transmission reduced by 60% with masks

Led by Professor Yuen Kwok-yung, a recognized expert on coronaviruses, the researchers placed cages containing previously infected hamsters close to those of healthy animals. Surgical masks were placed between the two cages, with an air flow from the cage of sick animals to that of healthy animals. The results showed that virus transmission was reduced by more than 60% when the masks were in place. Two-thirds of healthy hamsters were infected within a week when the masks were not in place. The infection rate fell to just over 15% when the masks were placed on the cage of infected animals and to 35% when they were placed on the cage of healthy hamsters.

"The universal wearing of the mask is really important"

"It is very clear that using masks on infected subjects (...) is more important than anything else," Yuen Kwok-yung told reporters. "We now know that a large part of those infected do not show symptoms, so the universal wearing of the mask is really important," he added. Professor Yuen is one of the micro-biologists who discovered the SARS virus when it first appeared in 2003 and killed some 300 people in Hong Kong. He pleaded early on in favor of people wearing the mask.

Four months after the first cases of Covid-19 appeared in China, Hong Kong managed to limit the number of cases to one thousand, which resulted in only four deaths. Experts believe the use of masks as well as extensive testing and tracing campaigns are the reasons for this success, in a city of 7.5 million people neighboring China.

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