New Covid-19 data recommends facial covering, ministry expert says

The most recent data on the novel coronavirus pandemic reccomends the obligatory use of facial masks or covers once restrictions are rolled back, the Health Ministry's spokesman Sotiris Tsiodras said on Wednesday.

"Now conditions are new and the use of a mask is for the purposes of not transmitting the virus, not to avoid contracting it," Tsiodras said at the daily briefing over the introduction of facial covering in closed spaces and public  transportation.

He said that the public will not need to procure medical-grade masks and can use masks made of cloth or paper. Tsiodras warned, however, over the correct use of these masks, so that people are not inadvertently infected.

The directions and recommendations for their correct use will be posted online shortly by the National Public Health Organization (EODY).

Concerning children, Tsiodras cited European Center for Disease Prevention and Control data on SARS and MERS, which belong to the coronavirus family, to say that they contract the disease at much lower frequency than adults.

Their symptoms are fewer and milder and the percentage of children to the total population that have contracted the disease is less than 1 pct (Chinese data). He added that the greatest source of contracting the disease is the family of the child.