Media playback is not supported on your device
The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued manuals requiring children over the age of 12 to wear masks, in accordance with recommended practice for adults in their country or territory.
It acknowledges that not much is known about how children transmit the virus, but provides evidence that teens can infect others in the same way as adults.
Children five years and younger should not normally wear masks, the WHO said.
More than 800,000 people have now died worldwide with coronavirus.
At least 23 million cases of infection have been registered, according to Johns Hopkins University, with most of them recorded in the US, Brazil and India.
However, the true number of people who have the virus was believed to be much higher, due to insufficient testing and asymptomatic cases.
The numbers have increased again in countries as diverse as South Korea, EU states and Lebanon.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said he hopes the pandemic will be over in two years, but a top scientific adviser in the UK warned Covid-19 might never be removed, with people needing regular vaccinations .
What is the WHO guidance for children and masks?
The advice published on the WHO website covers three age groups:
- Children 12 and older must wear a mask under the same conditions as adults, especially if they can not guarantee a distance of at least one meter from others and there is widespread transmission in the area
- In front of children aged between six and 11 years, advises the WHO to take into account how widespread the transmission of the virus is and whether the child interacts with high-risk individuals such as parents. It also emphasizes the need for adult supervision to help children use, adopt and remove masks safely.
- Children five years and younger should not wear masks under normal circumstances
Copyright
Reuters
A child in a mask on Wall Street this week
For teachers, the WHO says: “In areas where there is widespread transmission, all adults under the age of 60 and who are generally in good health should wear dust masks if they cannot guarantee at least a meter distance from others.
“This is especially important for adults who work with children who can have close contact with children and with each other.”
Adults 60 years or older, as well as those with underlying health conditions, should wear medical masks, it says.
The WHO guidance does not determine if a child over the age of 12 should wear a mask at school, but it may still become a function of the class as the new academic year begins.
France recently made it compulsory for all children over the age of 11, and a number of schools in the UK are taking it upon themselves to require students to wear them, although this is not an official government directive.
James Gillespie’s High School in Edinburgh is one of these schools, making the decision to require students to “wear face masks while moving between classes”, after receiving feedback from students, staff and parents. Scotland’s Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon has warned high school students may be required to wear face masks in the ‘near future’.
