SADIQ Khan has called for all Brits to wear face masks on public transport after 16 bus drivers die.
The London Mayor said it could help slow the spread of the deadly virus for those still using buses and tubes.
Mr Khan said protective measures for London’s bus drivers had gone “above and beyond” expert and Government advice.
It was announced yesterday passengers would only be able to board buses through the middle doors of buses, to help keep drivers safe.
The London Mayor told Sky News he is lobbying to change the advice on wearing face masks, because they could stop infected people who are pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic from passing on the virus.
Mr Khan said: “What I am lobbying for is when it comes to those circumstances when it is just not possible to keep your social distance – think of public transport, think of when you’re in a shop.
“For people to wear a non-medical facial covering, (such as) a bandana, or a scarf, or a reusable facial mask.”
“The reason why it’s important, although it may not stop you catching the virus.. it may stop you passing on the virus.”
“What we’re seeing is (when) people are not using clinical medical face masks, but actually making it themselves…they are more effective than not wearing one in relation to passing on the virus.”
He said his advice was not against the official advice from the World Health Organisation.
Medical grade personal protective equipment should be reserved for health care workers, Mr Khan said.
If other people used them it could be “counterproductive and dangerous”, he said.
But Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said this morning Mr Khan’s advice shouldn’t be heeded.
He told LBC: “It is not the right moment to instruct people, as I saw the London Mayor do this morning, to wear them if we are not certain yet that they are going to be advantageous.”
Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said yesterday experts were still actively reviewing whether official advice should tell Brits to wear masks.
It comes after Dominic Raab yesterday extended the UK’s measures by a further three weeks.
According to the Daily Mail, one idea favoured by the government for when Britain begins to lift its lockdown is the use of protective equipment at work.
Those working indoors – including office and factory workers – could be ordered to socially distance and to wear face masks and gloves, the paper says.
Mr Khan stressed wearing masks should not replace social distancing, but should be used where people are still having to leave home to go to work.
The British government has been reluctant to take up the trend – favoured by many countries across Asia even before the lockdown, and now mandatory in America – citing a lack of evidence.
‘WE WILL NEED WORKPLACE PPE’
But new research suggests wearing masks can help ease the lifting of strict lockdown measures, and stop those infected with coronavirus from passing it on.
A cabinet source told the Daily Mail: “Everyone accepts – including industry – that the next phase is not going to be a return to business as usual.
“We will need intensive testing and tracing of suspected cases.
“And we will have to have social distancing in factories and offices – we will need personal protective equipment in the workplace.”
The source added that failure to do so could see a second lockdown, echoing Mr Raab’s comments throughout the daily coronavirus press conferences.
First Secretary of State, Mr Raab – who is deputising for the Prime Minister as he recovers from coronavirus – has repeatedly told Brits we must not give coronavirus a “second chance”.
Experts also warned some social distancing measures could stay in place until a vaccine is found, which could take up to 18 months.
Insisting Britain was at “a delicate and dangerous stage” of this pandemic, Mr Raab told the No10 press conference: “We need to be patient a while longer. If we rush to relax the measures in place, we would risk wasting all the sacrifices and all the progress we have made.
“We’ve just come too far, we’ve lost too many loved ones, we’ve already sacrificed far too much to ease up now.”
