26.3% of Mirpur residents do not wear masks: Study

Around 26.3% people in the city's Mirpur area do not wear nonmedical masks outdoors to protect against Covid-19 infection, according to a study by Human Aid Bangladesh.

The study was conducted mid-April on 1,000 residents of Mirpur 1, 2, 10, Shamoly, Kalyanpur, Darus Salam, Natun Bazar, Technical, Gabtoli, and Tolarbagh areas.

As per the findings, out of 737 or 73.7 percent people who had masks, only 471 or 47.1 percent were wearing masks properly.

More than half the people in the study - 529 or 52.9 percent – would be prone to infection or spreading infection as they did not wear a mask or were wearing it improperly.

263 or 26.3 percent of the people surveyed were not wearing masks altogether.

Dr Shekh Mohammed Moinul Islam, a member of the research team, told The Business Standard (TBS), "Our study has found that about 53% of people either do not wear a mask properly or do not wear it at all. These are the people who are being infected and are contributing to the spread of the virus to others."

Last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended healthy people wear nonmedical masks to control the spread of Covid-19 in close settings where physical distancing is difficult to achieve.

Evidence has accumulated that strategies targeting susceptible populations can effectively contribute to the containment of the outbreak as masks can reduce the spread of droplets and infectious aerosols.   

Human Aid Bangladesh (HAB) foundation conducted the survey to assess the number of people wearing a mask and how they are wearing it. This research was conducted by Dr Shekh Mohammed Moinul Islam, Dr Ayesha Hossain Sadia, Dr Shah Imran, and Md Jewel Rana.

Currently, HAB is working on finding out more about Covid-19 re-infection and the prevalence of Covid infection among vaccinated people.