Most New COVID Patients 'Wore No Masks'

Many patients who recently tested positive for coronavirus had not been wearing masks in churches or coffee shops in the capital region, health authorities believe.

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The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention emphasized that both people with symptoms and those without must wear masks.

"According to a recent article published by the American Dental Association, it is possible to reduce the infection rate to 1.5 percent if you wear a mask", a KCDC official said Wednesday.

"And even if you don't wear a mask and happen to come in contact with an infected person, the infection rate is a mere five percent if the infected person is wearing a mask".

Otherwise the rate rises to over 70 percent.

Back on July 17, KCDC chief Jeong Eun-kyeong said, "People without a mask are five times more likely to contract the virus than those wearing one. It's no use tucking a mask under your chin".

You must wear a mask except when you eat food in a restaurant or drink coffee in a café", she added. "This is now part of everyday life".

Coronavirus is transmitted through saliva droplets, and wearing a mask can prevent them from both from getting out and getting in.