A new global study has found that wearing a mask is the single most effective public health measure when it comes to tackling the spread of Covid-19.
In fact, it reduces incidences of Covid by 53 per cent, according to the study.
While vaccines are a proven safe and effective way at tackling the virus, it does not offer 100 per cent protection.
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Furthermore, it is not yet clear how effective vaccines will be at protecting against growing variants of coronavirus.
One of the most concerning variants is the Delta variant that originated in India, which has played a major role in infecting 50 million people on average worldwide every 90 days.
The researchers of the new global study wrote in the British Medical Journal (BMJ): "This systematic review and meta-analysis suggests that several personal protective and social measures, including handwashing, mask-wearing, and physical distancing are associated with reductions in the incidence of Covid-19.”
The noted that the study shows how important it is to continue wearing a mask, social distancing, and frequent handwashing alongside vaccine programmes to curb the spread of the virus.
But researchers at Monash University and the University of Edinburgh say a combination of measures need further analysis to assess the potential negative impact it could have on the population.
This is the first global study that fully cements the effectiveness of Covid measures and restrictions.
Over 30 studies were analysed rigorously to find that wearing a mask reduces Covid incidence by 53 per cent.
Meanwhile, social distancing measures reduce Covid incidence by 25 per cent, respectively.
Regular handwashing was also shown to have a significant effect by reducing Covid incidence by 53 per cent - it's important to note that there was only a small number of handwashing studies available, reducing the significance of the statistic.
While mask-wearing was implemented by most countries during the beginning of the pandemic, it's been abandoned by many governments.
This includes England, where wearing a mask is not compulsory by law in most public settings - this is mainly due to the rollout of the vaccine programme over the past few months.
However, wearing a mask is still compulsory in Scotland and Wales for many different situations such as public transport.
In fact, England seems to be the most relaxed about wearing a mask after Prime Minister Boris Johnson received heavy criticism from the World Health Organization.
The global health group criticised him for being photographed without a face mask during a hospital visit.
In regards to the pictures, Dr David Nabarro told Sky News: "I'm not sitting on the fence on this one - where you've got large amounts of Covid being transmitted, everybody should do everything to avoid either getting the virus inadvertently passing it on.
"We know that wearing a face mask reduces the risk, we know that maintaining physical distance reduces the risk, we know that hygiene by regular handwashing and coughing into your elbow reduces the risk.
"We should do it all and we should not rely on any one intervention like vaccinations on its own."
