SARS-CoV-2 is covered in spike proteins, which allow the virus to enter host cells once in the body. The team developed a membrane which includes proteolytic enzymes that attach to the protein spikes and deactivate them.
"This new material can filter out the virus like the N95 mask does, but also includes antiviral enzymes that completely deactivate it. This innovation is another layer of protection against SARS-CoV-2 that can help prevent the virus from spreading," said Professor Dibakar Bhattacharyya from the College of Engineering at the University of Kentucky.
"It's promising to develop new products that can protect against SARS-CoV-2 and a number of other human pathogenic viruses," he added.
In the study published in the journal Communications Materials, the team developed the membrane, which was fabricated through an existing collaboration with a large-scale membrane manufacturer.
It was then tested using SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins that were immobilised on synthetic particles. Not only could the material filter out coronavirus-sized aerosols, but it was also able to destroy the spike proteins within 30 seconds of contact.
The study reports that the membrane provided a protection factor above the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's standard for N95 masks, meaning that it could filter at least 95 per cent of airborne particles.
"These membranes have been proven to be a promising system of advancement toward the new generation of respiratory face masks and enclosed-environment filters that can significantly reduce coronavirus transmission by virus protein deactivation and enhanced aerosol particle capture," the study said.
In an official order issued by BeMC Commissioner J Sonal on July 18, residents of BeMC area and those visiting the city have been advised to wear face masks appropriately while in public places like places of worships, parks, open air gyms, sports arena and market places.
The owners of shopping malls, shops and store owners have been asked to not to allow any staff or customers without face masks while inside the business premises. They have also been asked to put up signage ‘No Mask No Entry/No Mask No Goods’ at the entrance to make people aware about the rule.
The fuel station owners have also been directed not to sell fuel to customers who are found without face masks or wearing mask inappropriately. They have also been asked to put up signage at appropriate places for public awareness.
Similarly, the government as well as private officers have been asked to make it sure that their employees are wearing face masks appropriately while in the office premises except when they are having food during lunch hours.
At the same time, adherence of proper Covid behaviours like maintaining social distancing, hand hygiene, appropriate coughing/sneezing practice and no sneezing at public places has also to be followed.
The order states that in case of any violation, the violators will attract penal provisions of the Odisha Covid-19 regulations and amendments made from time to time.
Notably Odisha on Tuesday reported 945 fresh daily Covid cases, with Khurda district at the top of the list registering a maximum 371 cases, followed by Sundargarh district recording 103 cases. And Ganjam district, whose part is Berhampur city, recorded four fresh cases.
The study led by an international team of researchers from Australia, the UK and China conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of non-pharmaceutical interventions showing for the first time that mask wearing, social distancing and handwashing are all effective measures at curbing cases -- with mask wearing the most effective.
Researchers at Monash University and the University of Edinburgh analysed more than 30 studies from around the world and found a statistically significant 53 per cent reduction in the incidence of Covid with mask wearing; a 25 per cent reduction with physical distancing. Handwashing also indicated a substantial 53 per cent reduction in Covid incidence.
"This systematic review and meta-analysis suggests that several personal protective and social measures, including handwashing, mask wearing, and physical distancing are associated with reductions in the incidence Covid-19," the researchers wrote in the paper published in the BMJ.
The findings come as several countries have loosened masking requirements, citing vaccine efficacy. But experts have warned against lifting mask mandates. Although vaccines have proved to be safe and effective, yet most vaccines do not confer 100 per cent protection. Moreover, it is also not known how vaccines will prevent future transmission of SARS-CoV-2, given emerging variants.
Until herd immunity to Covid-19 is reached, regardless of the already proven high vaccination rates, public health preventive strategies are likely to remain as first choice measures in disease prevention, particularly in places with a low uptake of Covid-19 vaccination, the researchers said.
"Public health efforts to implement public health measures should consider community health and socio-cultural needs, and future research is needed to better understand the effectiveness of public health measures in the context of covid-19 vaccination," they noted.
A comparative study in the Hong Kong reported a statistically significant lower cumulative incidence of Covid-19 associated with mask wearing than in selected countries where mask wearing was not mandatory.
Similarly, another natural experiment involving 15 US states reported a 2 per cent statistically significant daily decrease in Covid-19 transmission more than 21 days after mask wearing became mandatory, whereas a cross sectional study reported that a 10 per cent increase in self-reported mask wearing was associated with greater odds for control of SARS-CoV-2 transmission.
"It's a recommendation. It's voluntary. I just don't want to wear one myself", Trump said, reflecting the mood of the fairly long-drawn debate on the subject at the highest levels of the US government.
The COVID-19 has sickened more than 2,70,000 people in the US and killed more than 7,100 in barely a month since the first death was reported from the West Coast. Most of the dead are in New York City, where hospitals are simply overwhelmed by the surge.
The New York metro area remains the epicentre of the outbreak in the US. Its high population density, tourist traffic in the early months of the year before border controls kicked in, and surface transmission from a robust public transport system have been cited by public health experts as crucial ingredients of the virus' deadly blow.
Facing severe shortage of intensive care equipment, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is taking one of the most aggressive steps yet in the US battle against COVID-19. Cuomo said he would sign an executive order to take ventilators that aren't being used.
Also Read: Coronavirus Outbreak: US Overtakes China With Most Confirmed COVID-19 Cases Worldwide
Cuomo has said New York could run out of ventilators next week. Louisiana's governor said New Orleans could be down to zero supply by Tuesday. Global shortages of masks, gowns and ventilators have led to intense competition among buyers from all over.
The race is on to find a vaccine, but America's leading scientists say a breakthrough is at least 12-18 months away. Social distancing guidelines are in place but compliance differs across state lines.
The new guidelines on face coverings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) come basis evolving research that indicates pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic spread of the virus.
The CDC is recommending wearing cloth face coverings in public settings like grocery stores and pharmacies where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain.
The guidance especially applies "in areas of significant community-based transmission."
CDC and the White House task force are underlining that homemade face masks are an additional and "voluntary" measure that run in parallel with the social distancing guidelines already in place since March 16.
US guidelines currently in place recommend staying at home, keeping at least 6 feet distance from others, frequent hand washing and not touching your face.
The US surgeon general who had asked people to "stop buying masks" today explained the new guidelines are part of the "evolving" recommendations.
Trump's comments come on the same day that First lady Melania Trump tweeted endorsement for the new guidelines and urged everyone take social distancing and wearing a mask or face covering "seriously".
White House coronavirus task force co-ordinator Dr. Deborah Birx said early and effective social distancing compliance in California and Washington State have controlled the outbreak in those states. "We do see that their curve is different," she said.
"Their curve is different from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. And we really believe that the work that every citizen is doing in those states is making a difference."
Birx said Chicago, Detroit, Colorado, the District of Columbia and Pennsylvania are all floating into view as new areas of concern.
America's COVID19 hotspots New York and New Jersey, are reporting 35 percent of their tests are positive. Louisiana follows close behind with a 26 per cent positive rate. Michigan, Connecticut, Indiana, Georgia and Illinois are at 15 per cent while Colorado, Washington DC, Rhode Island and Massachusetts are all at 13 per cent.
This week, the Trump administration revealed for the first time multiple predictive models that are being used to estimate its grim assessment of a 1,00,000-2,00,000 coronavirus death toll in the country. The 1,00,000-2,00,000 death toll projection "assumes full mitigation measures" currently in place, according to America's top doctors leading the White House task force.
The world's top pandemic experts are saying the outbreak in the US is unlike anything they have seen before.
"There's no magic bullet. There's no magic vaccine or therapy. It's just behaviours. Each of our behaviours, translating into something that changes the course of this viral pandemic over the next 30 days", Birx has said repeatedly.
Also Read: COVID-19: US Announces USD 174 Mn Aid To 64 Countries, India To Get USD 2.9 Mn
The 1,00,000-2,00,000 death toll projection "assumes full mitigation measures" currently in place, according to the White House task force. The current guidelines stop short of a complete lockdown, still allowing people to go outside the home for solitary activities and for essential tasks.
"We trust the American people to keep that six feet distance when they go out, meet people. That is why we have not issued a complete lockdown", Birx said. She said that if people maintain "that six feet distance", they have controlled the virus.
(IANS)
The governor made this appeal while releasing a special cover on 'COVID-19, global pandemic' and a pack of 10 picture postcards at the Raj Bhawan here.
Wearing a mask is one of the preventive measures to limit the spread of novel coronavirus, he said.
"Through this special cover, an appeal has been made to the public to wear masks as a way of life," the governor said.
Hon'ble Governor released a special cover on #COVID19 & a pack of 10 picture postcards on great personalities of the state by Odisha postal circle in presence of Chief Postmaster General Sri Subash Chandra Barmma & Secy to Hon'ble Governor Sri @meherda_pramod at Rajbhawan today. pic.twitter.com/F8cU6qymaP
— Governor Odisha (@GovernorOdisha) May 26, 2020
The design of the cover is based on the artwork of Apindra Swain, a Pattachitra artist of Raghurajpur village in Puri district.
His paintings depict people engaged in day-to-day activities at home by wearing masks.
Prominent freedom fighters and makers of modern Odisha including Saheed Laxman Naik, Veer Surendra Sai, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Krushnachandra Gajapati, Vyasakabi Fakir Mohan Senapati, Utkalmani Pandit Gopabandhu Das, Utkal Gaurav Madhusudan Das, V V Giri, Harekrushna Mahatab and Biju Patnaik featured in the picture postcards.
The governor also expressed his gratitude for the Corona warriors for their selfless service amid the unprecedented crisis caused by Coronavirus.
He said, "The Tapasya of warriors may result in yoking separate countries to a great human empire; unification of East & West may become the new religion of tomorrow; the religion that shall be governed by a new consciousness the whole."
"My humblest salutations to yogic warriors in the sacred action," he added.
'The Tapasya of warriors may result in yoking separate countries to a great human empire; unification of East & West may become the new religion of tomorrow; the religion that shall be governed by a new consciousness the whole,'says Hon'ble Governor.
Read:https://t.co/lW1lnMU9kb— Governor Odisha (@GovernorOdisha) May 26, 2020
(With Agency Inputs)
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A study suggests that lockdowns alone will not stop the resurgence of SARS-CoV-2 and that even homemade masks with limited effectiveness can dramatically reduce transmission rates if worn by enough people, regardless of whether they show symptoms.
"Our analyses support the immediate and universal adoption of face masks by the public," said lead author Dr Richard Stutt from the University of Cambridge in the UK.
"If widespread mask use by the public is combined with physical distancing and some lockdown, it may offer an acceptable way of managing the pandemic and reopening economic activity long before there is a working vaccine," Stutt added.
For the study, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society, the research team worked to link the dynamics of the spread between individuals with population-level models, to assess different scenarios of face mask adoption combined with periods of lockdown.
The modelling included stages of infection and transmission via surfaces as well as air.
Researchers also considered negative aspects of mask use, such as increased face touching.
The reproduction or 'R' number -- the number of people an infected individual passes the virus onto -- needs to stay below 1.0 for the pandemic to slow.
The study found that if people wear masks whenever they are in public it is twice as effective at reducing 'R' than if masks are only worn after symptoms appear.
In all modelling scenarios, routine mask use by 50 per cent or more of the population reduced Covid-19 spread to an R less than 1.0, flattening future disease waves and allowing less-stringent lockdowns.
Viral spread reduced further as more people adopted masks when in public.
The findings showed that 100 per cent mask adoption combined with on/off lockdowns prevented any further disease resurgence for the 18 months required for a possible vaccine.
The models suggest that - while the sooner the better - a policy of total face-mask adoption can still prevent a second wave even if it isn't instigated until 120 days after an epidemic begins (defined as the first 100 cases).
Previous research shows that even homemade masks made from cotton t-shirts or dishcloths can prove 90 per cent effective at preventing transmission.
The researchers point out that crude homemade masks primarily reduce disease spread by catching the wearer's own virus particles, breathed directly into fabric, whereas inhaled air is often sucked in around the exposed sides of the mask.
(IANS)
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The new mask incorporates a heated copper mesh and does not need to be decontaminated or thrown away after use, according to the researchers.
As the person wearing the mask breathes in and out, air flows repeatedly across the mesh, and any viral particles in the air are slowed and inactivated by the mesh and high temperatures, the researchers said.
Such a mask could be useful for healthcare professionals, as well as members of the public in situations where social distancing would be difficult to achieve, such as a crowded bus, they said.
"This is a completely new mask concept in that it doesn't primarily block the virus. It actually lets the virus go through the mask, but slows and inactivates it," said Michael Strano, a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US.
The researchers have begun building prototypes and hope to begin testing them soon.
The new design has been described in a paper posted on online preprint server ArXiv, and submitted to a peer-reviewed journal.
"The masks that we wear now are designed to capture some of the virus. They do offer protection, but there's no one really thinking about inactivating the virus and sterilising the air. That surprised me," Strano said.
The researchers set out to design a mask that would kill viruses using heat.
They decided to use copper mesh as the heating and capture element, and performed some mathematical modelling to determine the optimal temperature range needed to kill coronaviruses flowing inwards or outwards from natural breathing.
"The vast majority of masks today function by filtration, filtering particles by size or electric charge," said MIT graduate student Samuel Faucher, the lead author of the study.
"This mask relies on a different mechanism and works predominantly by thermal inactivation," Faucher said.
The researchers calculated how rapidly coronaviruses degrade at different temperatures and trapping conditions, and found that a temperature of about 90 degrees Celsius could achieve between a thousandfold and millionfold reduction in viral particles, depending on the final mask size.
They also showed that that temperature can be achieved by running an electrical current across a 0.1-millimetre thick copper mesh or thermoelectric heater, powered by a small battery.
The current prototypes include a 9-volt battery, which would provide enough power to heat the mask for a few hours and would cool the air before it is inhaled.
"Of course, we need to be mindful of the safety and comfort of mask users. The air will be cooled after viral inactivation to make the mask comfortable and safe to use," Faucher said.
The researchers were able to enhance the efficiency of virus deactivation by taking advantage of the breath to create a type of reactor known as a reverse-flow reactor.
As the person wearing the mask breathes in and out, the air flow continually reverses, allowing any viruses in the mask to pass over the mesh many times and making it more likely that they will be deactivated.
Purified air flows out of vents on both sides of the mask, the researchers said.
"This design means you can wear a small mask, something that will fit on your face, but the virus can spend much more time getting deactivated than it would without the reverse flow reactor design," Strano said.
The copper mesh is surrounded by neoprene, an insulating material that prevents the outside of the mask from becoming too hot to wear.
N95 respirators, surgical masks, and cloth masks are effective and should be used during the pandemic as directed, Strano said, but one potential advantage of heated masks is that because they kill the virus, they don't need to be decontaminated or thrown away after use.
They may offer extra protection by eliminating the virus rather than only filtering it.
"What we show is that it's possible to wear something on your face that's not too cumbersome, that can actually allow you to breathe medically sterile air," Strano said.
Heated masks would be more expensive than cloth masks or surgical masks, but they may be useful in situations where exposure risk is high, and cost is less of a concern, the researchers said.
(PTI)
Also Read: Researchers Design Reusable Silicone Rubber Face Mask With N95 Filter
The central idea is to modify mask fabrics with anti-viral chemicals that can sanitize exhaled, escaped respiratory droplets.
By simulating inhalation, exhalation, coughs and sneezes in the laboratory, the study, published in the journal Matter, found that non-woven fabrics used in most masks work well to demonstrate the concept.
"We quickly realised that a mask not only protects the person wearing it, but much more importantly, it protects others from being exposed to the droplets (and germs) released by the wearer," said study author Jiaxing Huang from the Northwestern University in the US.
Although masks can block or reroute exhaled respiratory droplets, many droplets (and their embedded viruses) still escape.
From there, virus-laden droplets can infect another person directly or land on surfaces to indirectly infect others.
Huang's team aimed to chemically alter the escape droplets to make the viruses inactivate more quickly.
To accomplish this, Huang sought to design a mask fabric that: (1) Would not make breathing more difficult, (2) Can load molecular anti-viral agents such as acid and metal ions that can readily dissolve in escaped droplets, and (3) Do not contain volatile chemicals or easily detachable materials that could be inhaled by the wearer.
After performing multiple experiments, the research team selected two well-known antiviral chemicals: phosphoric acid and copper salt.
These non-volatile chemicals were appealing because neither can be vaporized and then potentially inhaled. And both create a local chemical environment that is unfavorable for viruses.
Huang's team grew a layer of a conducting polymer polyaniline on the surface of the mask fabric fibers. The material adheres strongly to the fibers, acting as reservoirs for acid and copper salts.
The researchers found that even loose fabrics with low-fiber packing densities of about 11 per cent such as medical gauze, still altered 28 per cent of exhaled respiratory droplets by volume.
For tighter fabrics, such as lint-free wipes (the type of fabrics typically used in the lab for cleaning), 82 per cent of respiratory droplets were modified.
The researchers hope the current work provides a scientific foundation for others to develop their own versions of this chemical modulation strategy and test it further with viral samples or even with patients.
(IANS)
Also Read: MIT’s New Face Mask Can Inactivate Novel Coronavirus Using Heat