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The World Health Organization (WHO) has expanded its recommendations for wearing masks as protection against coronavirus infections.
She now recommends that people should also wear masks in their own homes when outsiders visit, if the ventilation there is not good or cannot be properly assessed.
This applies "regardless of whether a distance of at least one meter can be maintained," says the recommendations updated on Wednesday.
Masks should not be worn on the arm or wrist, or pulled down to the chin or neck when they are not over the mouth and nose, according to the WHO.
They should be kept in clean, reusable plastic bags.
In hospitals and care facilities, all those working there should now wear masks, including cleaning and kitchen staff and office workers, not just the care staff.
Despite the new recommendations, the WHO maintains that the benefits of wearing a general mask in healthy people have not yet been clearly established: “At the moment, there is limited and conflicting scientific evidence on the effectiveness of wearing a mask in healthy people in preventing respiratory virus infections, including Sars-CoV-2 to prevent. "
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A study published in November with 4862 participants, in which some wore masks and some did not, found no difference in infections with the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus.
Smaller studies have found that wearing a mask in contact with infected people significantly reduces the risk of infection.
Other studies have compared regions with and without mask wear and found a decrease in Covid-19 diseases where masks were worn.