India / Children aged 5 years and under should not be required to wear masks: Govt

New Delhi: Wearing masks to prevent coronavirus disease (Covid-19) is not recommended for children below five years of age, even though the practice is deemed essential for adults, according to guidelines issued by the Directorate general of health services (DGHS) under the Union ministry of health and family welfare. Children aged between six to 11 years may wear a mask, but only the supervision of parents and the consulting doctor, news agency ANI cited the guidelines as stating. The recent recommendations deal with coronavirus disease management in children below 18 years of age.

"As per the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) guidelines, a mask is not recommended for children of 5 years of age or below; children aged 6-11 years may wear a mask under supervision of parents and doctor," read an update from ANI on Thursday morning. The new guidelines issued by the DGHS also recommend against using the antiviral drug Remdesivir in children below 18 years of age, as well as a "rational use" of HRCT imaging among children in this age group.

The DGHS has been revising its clinical management protocols regarding coronavirus disease. In its updated circular three days ago, the department under the health ministry dropped all medicines, except those for fever and cold, for asymptomatic and mild cases. It also stressed the importance of following Covid-19 appropriate behaviour in adults — wearing of a mask and following physical distancing, hand hygiene, and cough etiquettes— and said they must be followed by asymptomatic, mild, moderate, and severe patients.

The revised guidelines issued by the DGHS on May 27 dropped all drugs including hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin, doxycycline, zinc, multivitamins, etc prescribed by the doctors to asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic Covid-19 patients. Doctors have also been asked not to prescribe unnecessary tests to Covid-19 patients such as CT scans.