Masks ‘no silver bullet’ against coronavirus, Africa will not be testing ground for COVID-19 vaccine: WHO

World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday (March 6) said that face masks alone were no 'silver bullet' to defeat COVID-19 coronavirus but added that the use of masks should be done extensively in areas where hand-washing and physical distancing were difficult.

"Countries could consider using masks in communities where other measures such as cleaning hands and physical distancing are harder to achieve because of lack of water or cramped living conditions," Tedros told a virtual briefing in Geneva.

"Masks should only ever be used as part of a comprehensive package of interventions There is no black or white answer, and no silver bullet. Masks alone cannot stop the COVID-19 pandemic," he added.

The WHO chief asserted that common people should not use medical masks as doing so could lead to shortage of protective equipment for healthcare workers.

Tedros also slammed the "racist" suggestions from some scientists that the vaccine for coronavirus could be tested in Africa. "Africa cannot and will not be a testing ground for any vaccine," he said, adding that the suggestion was a hangover from the "colonial mentality".

"It was a disgrace, appalling, to hear during the 21st century, to hear from scientists, that kind of remark. We condemn this in the strongest terms possible, and we assure you that this will not happen," added the WHO chief.

Meanwhile, the surge in COVID-19 pandemic doesn't seem to stop as the virus has infected over 13 lakh people across the globe by Monday (April 6, 2020). The virus that was first reported in Wuhan, China in late December 2019, has taken over 72,638 lives around the world and almost 13,09,439 people have been tested COVID-19 positive as of 11:45 PM IST on Monday, according to the data released by Johns Hopkins University`s Coronavirus Resource Centre.