Morocco makes face masks compuslory due to coronavirus outbreak

Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, Morocco has made it compulsory for anyone coming out of their houses to wear face masks. According to reports, from April 7 onwards anyone who is allowed to go out during the lockdown will have to wear a face mask or face jail time and a fine. The masks will be offered at subsidized rates so that all can afford them and wear them.

Hefty penalty for not wearing masks

As per reports, the face masks will be available at 0.8 dirhams ($0.08) per unit. Anyone failing to comply with the government’s directive will face a prison sentence of up to three months and a fine of 1,300 dirhams. According to reports, Industry Ministry spokesman Taoufiq Moucharraf has claimed that Morocco plans to increase its daily mask production to 6 million next week, which is almost double the present capacity of 3.3  million. Moucharraf added that textile factories across the country have been encouraged to shift their production temporarily to the production of face masks.

Morocco, which is officially known as the kingdom of Morocco is located in North Africa and overlooks the Mediterranean Sea in the north and the Atlantic Ocean in the west, it has reported 1,120 total coronavirus cases and the death toll stands at 80.

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Re-Usable masks

Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, while the world is battling constraints in medical equipment and lack of protective gear, but recently researchers at Duke University have come up with a method to clean N95 masks so that they can be safely re-worn.

According to reports, the team at Duke Regional Biocontainment Laboratory has already managed to decontaminate hundreds of N95 masks without compromising their capability to protect against the coronavirus. This means that these decontaminated masks can now be re-worn several times. This discovery and method could provide significant help to hospitals that are running low on supplies and need to better protect their medical staff. The researchers from the University published their decontamination protocol so that other hospitals can also follow their lead and decontaminate their N95 masks.

Read: US Researchers Decontaminate N95 Masks To Make It Reusable Amid Global Shortage

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