Coronavirus: Face masks should be mandatory for public as social distancing relaxed to one metre, say doctors

Face coverings ‘should be matter of course’ to reduce risk of infection, warns BMA

The public should wear face coverings “as a matter of course” after Boris Johnson relaxed the two-metre social distancing rule, leading doctors have said.

The British Medical Association (BMA) said the UK government should make masks mandatory and follow other nations in ensuring there is no shortage of coverings to minimise the risk of infection.

Announcing the relaxation of the two-metre rule on Tuesday, the prime minister introduced the concept of “one metre plus” — in which people can get closer than two metres if they use “mitigation measures” such as wearing a face covering or remaining side-by-side.

The government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, and chief medical officer Chris Whitty both struck a cautious tone on the move during the final Downing Street daily briefing on coronavirus and stressed it was “critical” that people and employers take mitigation measures “really seriously”.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chair of council at the BMA, said: “The crucial aspect of this reduction in distancing is the prime minister’s acknowledgement that it comes with conditions attached — one of these is the wearing face coverings. The BMA believes face masks or coverings should be worn by the public now as a matter of course, in order to keep the risk of infection as low as possible.

”It is already mandatory to wear coverings on public transport, and we believe the Westminster government should now require the public to wear face coverings and ensure people have access to enough proper masks or coverings, as has been done in other countries.“

Face coverings have been mandatory on public transport in England since 15 June, with passengers who fail to wear one at risk of fines.

Announcing the new social distancing rule on Tuesday, Mr Johnson stressed it was “preferable” for people to remain two metres apart but said “we can now move to one metre plus where it is not possible for us to stay two metres apart”.

He added: “That means staying one metre apart plus mitigations which reduce the risk of transmission and these precautions could include installing screens, making sure people face away from each other, providing hand-washing facilities, minimising the amount of time you spend with people outside of your household and of course being outdoors.

“On public transport, it already means one metre plus, it means wearing a face covering for mitigation as everybody I think now understands.”

The distancing rule will be relaxed from 4 July to allow the reopening of businesses such as pubs and restaurants, which had warned they would be unable to open their doors under the two-metre restriction.

Prof Whitty acknowledged the change was “absolutely not risk-free”.

He said: “To be really clear, it is absolutely critical that every individual, every household and every firm takes these precautions seriously.

”If that does not happen, we will go back to a situation where transmission starts to rise again.”

British researchers have previously warned that face masks should be mandatory in public places to prevent people dying from coronavirus.

Up to 50,000 deaths from Covid-19 could be saved over the next two years by the introduction of mandatory masks combined with effective testing and tracing, a study by teams at University College London, the University of Edinburgh and the University of Haifa found.

The Department for Health and Social Care has been approached for comment.