Can wearing a face mask protect you against coronavirus?

IT’S been suggested that workers may have to wear masks and gloves when they return to the office (Mail). However, masks have a limited life, ranging from minutes to hours, and some are only useful in protecting the user from dust inhalation. There is a worldwide shortage of disposable masks and gloves, and if we can’t get enough to supply the NHS, where do we expect to get them for office workers? Most PPE suppliers will not supply to anyone but the NHS and emergency services. If you are not a regular purchaser, then you will be at the back of the queue.

IAN SUNNERS, Liverpool.

WHICH brands of masks protect against viruses and how long are they effective before they have to be changed? The supermarket shoppers I see wearing masks fiddle with them and pull them on and off every five minutes. The supply of masks should be prioritised for those most at risk.

Dr DAVID LIGHTMAN, Bishop’s Stortford, Herts. I AM a tool wholesaler with

four suppliers of PPE including masks. Not one has stock available and does not expect to have any in the immediate future. So, where is the public expected to buy masks?

NIGEL WALL, Henley-in-Arden, Warks.

IF WE all have to wear face masks when out and about, they should be made in Britain. It is imperative they are not sourced from China. The Government has already been shortchanged by virus home test kits that didn’t work and cheap PPE that was useless.

G. DAWSON, Liverpool. I WOULD be only too happy to wear a face mask on the bus if I knew where I could buy it.

EDNA REITH, London N19.

COMPULSORY mask wearing is a tick box exercise and virtue signalling rolled into one. Let’s not make lockdown harder than it is.

Name and address supplied. I LIVE in Thailand where the lockdown and curfew are far stricter than in Britain.

Everyone wears a face mask outside the home. You will be fined £500 if you are caught without one and could even be sent to prison. Your temperature is checked when entering shops and at road blocks. I feel the only way Britain can get back to some form of normality is for anyone travelling on public transport to wear face masks. It would not only help stop the spread of Covid-19, but also other diseases caused by coughing and sneezing. WENDY HOHENBERG,

Phuket, Thailand.