Wearing masks still not essential - DG Health Services

The Director General of Health Services Dr Anil Jasinghe stated that they have received reports that certain banks, supermarkets and other establishments had turned away people for not wearing masks and added that this is the wrong practice. 

Issuing a statement, Dr Jasinghe reiterated that wearing masks is still not essential given that the Coronavirus is still not at the "community transmission" level. He also stressed that if wearing masks is essential, they would inform the public of the need to do so. 

The Health Services DG also states that wearing masks may also distract people from doing what's absolutely necessary to minimise infection. It could also lead to a shortage of masks if a time came when wearing them is essential. 

"We will not tell anyone wearing masks not to do so, though we do not recommend it for everyone," he noted, while insisting that no establishment should refuse entry to any person who did not wear a mask. What such establishments should do is to device a strategy aimed at ensuring that the Government's social distance guidelines are respected, he observed.