Former Chief Scientific Adviser: Why UK public MUST wear facemasks

29 April 2020, 07:46 | Updated: 29 April 2020, 09:02

The government's former Scientific Adviser told LBC that facemasks should be mandatory for people in the UK after lockdown ends.

Professor Sir David King previously held the job of Sir Patrick Vallance and said that masks can help reduce the number of people you infect if you have the disease.

And speaking to Nick Ferrari, he said the only reason the government don't agree is that they haven't manufactured enough of them to meet the demand.

He said: "As we move out of the current lockdown, if there is any relaxation of the lockdown - more people on the streets, more people shopping, then we should all require to wear masks.

"Other countries are putting this in place. In south-east Asia, this is a cultural habit and Germany is trying to persuade its people to wear facemasks.

"If I have the virus and I don't know this and I go out shopping, a facemask will reduce the distance which the virus will spread from me. That must mean I cut down infectivity rates to other people.

"I believe the reason that the reason we have our doctors and nurses wearing masks is the same reason - to protect themselves and their patients."

Sir David said he believed there are not enough masks to go around in the UK at present, adding: "The reason why we are not being told to wear facemasks when we're out in the public domain is just simple.

"It's because we have raised the production capacity here in the United Kingdom to deal with the demand that would rise to meet that.

"The government needs to intervene with manufacturing companies which could be producing high-quality facemasks for governments to advertise how we should be wearing them.

"There has to be a proactive campaign to see that this is all done correctly."

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