Ministr

yofHealthandFamilyWelf
are
Di
rectorat
eGeneralofHealt
hServi
ces
[
EmergencyMedicalRel
ief
]

Nov
elCor
ornav
irusDi
sease(
COVI
D-19)

Gui
del
inesonuseofmasksbypubl
i
c

1. I
ntr
oduct
ion

Anew diseasenamednov elcoronavi

rus(COVID-
19)emer gedi nearlyDecember
t
h
2019inChinaandhasnowspr eadtoover90countr
ies.Ason9 Mar ch2020, I
ndia
hasreported 42 casesmost l
yamong t hosewho had travelled f
rom affected
count
ri
es.Itcausesami noril
lnessinmajori
tyofpati
entswithsy mptomsoff ever
andorcough.Asmal lproport
ionofsuchpersonsmaypr ogresst osever
edisease
wit
hdiff
icult
yinbreathi
ng.

Iti
sspr
eadbyani nf
ect
edpersonwi t
hCOVI Dcoughi
ngandt
hedr
opl
etsf
rom hi
s
coughi
nfect
ingot
her
sincl
osevici
nit
y(lesst
han1metre)
.

Anysuchnewdi seasei
nvar
iabl
yrel
atedtocoughl
eadst
osuggest
ionsf
rom var
ious
quar
ters,especi
all
yinsoci
almedia,tousemaskbygener
alpubli
ctopreventthe
di
sease.

2. Pur
poseoft
hisdocument

Thepurposeoft
hisdocumenti
stogi
vecor
rectev
idencebasedi
nfor
mat
iont
o
gener
alpubl
i
conuseofmask.

3. Medi
calmasks

Medicalmasksofdi f
ferentsi
zeand shapesar eav ai
lablei nt hemar ket
.The
commononesar efl
atpl eat
edmasksofwov enfabri
cwhi chcov ersthenoseand
mouthandaffi
xed behindtheheadwi
thstraps/elasti
cf asteners.Thereareal
so
coni
calorduckbil
lshapedmaskswi t
hv alves(orwi t
houtv al
ves)thatfiti
nthe
cont
ouroff
aceoverthenoseandmouth,butarecostl
ier.

4. Useofmasksbygener
alpubl
ic

4.
1. Per
sonshav
ingnosy
mpt
omsar
enott
ousemask

Medi
calmasksshouldnotbeusedbyhealthypersonswhoarenothav
ingany
sy
mptomsbecauseitcreat
eafal
sesenseofsecurit
ythatcanl
eadt
oneglect
ing
ot
heressent
ial
measur
essuchaswashi
ngofhands.

Furt
her,
therei
snoscient
if
icevi
dencetoshowhealthbenef
itofusi
ngmasksfornon
-si
ckpersonsi
nthecommunity
.Infacter
roneoususeofmasksorcont
inuoususeof
adisposabl
emaskf orlongerthan6hour sorrepeat
eduseofsamemaskmay
act
uall
yincr
easer
iskofgett
inganinf
ect
ion.I
tal
soincur
sunnecessar
ycost
.

I
nsuchsi
tuat
ion,
mor
eef
fect
ivest
epsar
e:

i
. Washhandsf requent
lywi
thsoapandwat erf
or40seconds.Anal
coholbased
handsanit
izerwith70%alcohol mustbeusedfor20seconds.Ifhandsare
di
rtyorsoiled,donotuseal coholbasedhandsaniti
zer,butwashhands
pref
erabl
ywi t
hsoapandwat er
.

i
i
. Whilecoughi
ngorsneezi ngcovernoseandmout hwithhandker
chi
ef,paper
ti
ssue.I
fhandkerchieforti
ssuepaperisnotavai
labl
ecoughi nt
otheflexed
el
bow.Disposeoftissuei
mmedi at
elyaf
teruseandwashhands.

i
i
i. Ref
rai
nfr
om t
ouchi
ngf
ace,
mout
h,noseandey
es.

i
v. St
ayatl
eastamet
reawayf
rom t
hosecoughi
ngorsneezi
ng.

v
. Moni
tory
ourbodyt
emper
atur
e.

4.
2. Whenandwhoshoul
dusemedi
calmasks(
apar
tfr
om heal
thcar
ewor
ker
).

4.
2.1.
Whenaper
sondev
elopscoughorf
ever
.

Use ofmedi calthree l

ayermasks when i
l
l,wi
l
lprev
enty ouri
nfecti
on fr
om
spreadi
ngt oothers.Howeveryoual
soneedt owashyourhandsfrequent
lyto
avoidspreadi
nginf
ecti
ontoother
s.

4.
2.2.Whi
l
evi
sit
ingaheal
thcar
efaci
l
ity
.

4.
2.3.Wheny
ouar
ecar
ingf
orani
l
lper
son.

4.
2.4.Cl
osef
amil
ycontact
sofsuchsuspect
/conf
ir
medcasesunder
goi
nghome
car
eshouldal
souseTri
plel
ayermedi
calmask.

4.
3.Dur
ati
onf
orwhi
chamedi
calmaskwi
llr
emai
nef
fect
ive

Amedical
mask,ifpr
operl
yworn,
wil
lbeef
fecti
vef
or8hour
s.I
fitget
sweti
n
bet
ween,i
tneedstobechangedi
mmediat
ely
.

4.
4.Cor
rectpr
ocedur
eofwear
ingt
ri
plel
ayermask

Whil
ewear
ingamedi
cal
mask,thestepsgi
venbel
owneedstobefol
lowed.Ify
oudo
notf
oll
owt
hem,youmaygeti
nfect
edf r
om t
hemaski
tsel
f.Thesest
epsare:

 Unf
oldt
hepl
eat
s;makesur
ethatt
heyar
efaci
ngdown.
  Placeov ernose, mouthandchi n.
 Fitfl
exi
bl enosepi ece(amet alli
cst ri
pthatcaneasi l
ybelocated)over
nose-bri
dge.
 Securewi tht i
estri
ngs(upperst r
ingtobet iedont opofheadabov e
theears–l owerst ri
ngatthebackoft heneck.)
 Ensurether ear enogapsonei thersideoft hemask, adj
usttofit
.
 Whi l
einuse, avoi
dtouchingt hemask.
 Donotl etthemaskhangi ngf rom theneck.
 Changet hemaskaf t
ersixhour sorassoonast heybecomewet .
 Disposablemasksar enev ertober eusedandshoul dbedisposedof f
.
 Whi l
eremov ingthemaskgr eatcar emustbet akennottotouch
thepotent i
allycontaminatedout ersurfaceofthemask
 Tor emov emaskf i
rstunti
et hest ri
ngbel owandt henthestr
ingabov e
andhandl et hemaskusi ngt heupperst r
ings.

4.
5. Di
sposalofusedmasks

Usedmaskshoul dbeconsi deredaspot ent

iall
yi nf
ect
ed.Masksusedby
pat
ient
s / car e giv
ers/ cl
ose cont act
s during home care should be
di
sinf
ected using ordi
nar
ybl each solut
ion (
5%)orsodi um hypochl
ori
te
sol
uti
on( 1%)andthendisposedofeitherbyburningordeepbur
ial
.