WHO advisory panel to assess whether public should wear face masks to spread the virus

Advisers to the World Health Organisation (WHO) are considering whether to suggest new guidance for the public on wearing face masks as a way to limit the spread of coronavirus.

This comes after new research suggests that coughs and sneezes may project particles much further into the air than previously thought — six metres for a cough and up to eight metres for a sneeze.

For several weeks, World Health Organization, health professionals, political leaders have told the public that people do not need to use protective face masks unless they are sick or caring for someone with Covid-19.

However David Heymann, chair of the advisory panel to the WHO, told BBC News that the new research may lead to current advice changing.

"The WHO is opening up its discussion again looking at the new evidence to see whether or not there should be a change in the way it's recommending masks should be used," said Professor Heymann, former director at the WHO.

The US Government is also expected to announce new recommendations urging many, if not almost all Americans to wear face coverings when leaving home, in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Until now, health authorities, including Australia's own Department of Health, have advised the general public not to wear face masks unless they are sick.

The advisory group to the WHO is weighing up a new US study that suggests droplets from coughs and sneezes could be projected further than originally thought.

Respiratory droplets — which are considered to be the main way coronavirus spreads — are generally thought to travel short distances before falling onto surfaces near to the person who released them.

It's why the WHO recommends people maintain a distance of at least 1 metre from anyone coughing or sneezing. The Australian Government advises individuals to stay 1.5 metres away from others.

But researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that, in laboratory conditions, coughs can project liquid up to six metres away and sneezes can reach up to eight metres away.

Professor Heymann told BBC News that if the evidence is supported, then "it might be that wearing a mask is equally as effective or more effective than distancing".

On Wednesday, a committee convened by the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to advise the White House, said there was a possibility the new coronavirus could be spread by simply talking or breathing.

However, while scientists can't rule out that infected people sometimes exhale COVID-19 virus particles, according to the committee, there isn't enough evidence to show if that can cause infection.

According to the WHO, studies to date suggest that the virus is mainly transmitted through contact with respiratory droplets rather than through the air.

However wearing a face mask is certainly not an iron-clad guarantee that you won’t get sick – viruses can also transmit through the eyes and tiny viral particles, known as aerosols, can penetrate masks. However, masks are effective at capturing droplets, which is a main transmission route of coronavirus, and some studies have estimated a roughly fivefold protection versus no barrier alone.