Twitter removes Prashant Bhushan’s post claiming masks are ineffective against COVID-19

Advocate Prashant Bhushan on Saturday posted a tweet claiming that face masks are not effective in preventing the spread of the deadly Coronavirus. Sharing the link to a hypothesis on the use of facemasks during the COVID-19 pandemic, Bhushan said wearing masks ‘have substantial adverse physiological and psychological effects.’

“The data suggest that facemasks are ineffective to block transmission of viral and infectious disease such as COVID-19. Wearing facemasks has been demonstrated to have substantial adverse physiological and psychological effects," the lawyer said in the tweet.

Soon after posting the anti-mask tweet, Bhushan came under fire from social media by users who began to flag his post for spreading misinformation. One user commented, "Why spread fake news? Who has approved it (the study)? Which medical body? You want more deaths?" As a result, the post was taken down later in the day, saying that it violates Twitter Rules.

It may be noted that the study shared by Bhushan was based on a large number of previously published scientific studies that was republished by ScienceDirect in January this year.

India records highest COVID-19 cases

Hitting another record daily high of 1,52,879 new coronavirus infections, India's COVID-19 tally of cases climbed to 1,33,58,805, while the active cases breached the 11-lakh mark for the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Sunday.

The death toll increased to 1,69,275 with 839 daily new fatalities, the highest since October 18, 2020, the data updated at 8 am showed. Registering a steady increase for the 32nd day in a row, the active cases increased to 11,08,087 comprising 8.29 per cent of the total infections, while the recovery rate further dropped to 90.44 per cent, the ministry said. 

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,20,81,443, while the case fatality rate has further dropped to 1.27 per cent, the data stated.