New Delhi: Globally renowned doctor and an authority on COVID-19, Dr. Faheem Younus, has spoken against the suggestion to wear masks at home as the pandemic wreaked havoc across India.
Dr. Younus tweeted, “Masks at Home? Not needed for regular family encounters. Only needed when you have visitors from outside or someone at home has COVID-19/respiratory symptoms. We’ve lost so much. Let’s not lose our sanity.”
This was after Dr VK Paul, a member of the Indian government’s Niti Aayog (earlier known as Planning Commission), said that the time had come for people to start wearing masks at home. Addressing a press conference, he said, “If there is COVID-19 positive case in the family, it is very important that the person wears a mask even indoors because the virus can spread to others in the home. I would rather go on to say that the time has come that we start wearing mask at home even otherwise.”
Earlier, the Delhi High Court had made it mandatory for an individual to wear a mask even when driving the car alone. The move had earned plenty of ridicule.
Dr. Younus has been fiercely busting the myths related to the spread of COVID-19. In one of his recent tweets, he had said, “Disinfecting My Phone. Use a household disinfecting wipe. Clean phone/case. Don’t use liquids, sprays etc. Caution: COVID-19 will likely come to you through a TRUSTED human instead of a phone/surface. I haven’t cleaned my phone in 6 months. We’re both doing ok:)”
In one of his interviews, Dr. Younus had said that it was easy to defeat the virus if we maintained some basic COVID-19 SOPs. “If we all wear masks, maintain distance, wash hands, avoid crowds – we avoid lockdown and save lives. We safely drive thru this pandemic and reach mass vaccination. Then remove our mask, take a deep breath, smile, hug, gather again and be grateful to God Almighty,” he had summed it up in a tweet later.