International FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 2015

MERS sparks mask rush, but are they effective?

TOKYO: As South Korea scrambles to control an out- break of the killer MERS virus, its fearful citizens have donned surgical masks en masse-but the jury is out on whether they actually protect against the invisible enemy lurking in the air. Across Asia, masks have lost their stigma to become an everyday sight in the street or on the subway, despite some experts believing they do little more than provide psychological reassurance against dis- eases such as MERS, which has already left 23 people dead in South Korea. The virus, which arrived in the country with a busi- nessman who had been travelling in the Middle East, has sparked a rush of orders at a small Japanese mask- maker, similar to that in the 2002-2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in . “We have received 100,000 orders for our masks, 10 times more than the same time last year,” company presi- dent Tsuyoshi Nakagawara told AFP. “Half of them are from overseas, of which 70 percent are from South Korea, while Hong Kong and (mainland) China account BEIJING: A Chinese Muslim man offers prayers on the first day of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, at a mosque. — AFP for the rest.” The company’s most popular mask, a 9,980 yen ($80) model, is made with several layers of filters, China restricts Ramadan which the firm claims are fine enough to block pollen, infectious viruses, PM2.5 — tiny airborne pollutants small enough to penetrate deep into the lungs-and fasting in western region even radioactive particles. While fear over MERS is at the root of the latest boom in South Korean mask wearing, the practice is widespread in East Asia, even Officials blaming ‘religious extremism’ for violence in relatively normal times. BEIJING: China has banned civil servants, students and ty”, the county’s official website said. teachers in its mainly Muslim region from fasting Ahead of the holy month, one village in Yili, near the Runny noses during Ramadan and ordered restaurants to stay open, border with Kazakhstan, said mosques must check the In Japan it is common to see small children, busi- official websites showed as the holy month began yester- identification cards of anyone who comes to pray during nessmen, pregnant women and others in a white sur- day. Most Muslims are required to fast from dawn to dusk Ramadan, according to a notice on the government’s web- gical mask as they go about their daily life-on trains, in during the month but China’s ruling Communist Party is site. The Bole county government said that Mehmet Talip, offices and in the street. They are particularly abun- officially atheist and for years has restricted the practice in a 90-year-old Uighur Communist Party member, had prom- dant during the winter ‘flu season and remain so Xinjiang, home to the mostly Muslim Uighur minority. ised to avoid fasting and vowed to “not enter a mosque in through spring as millions of hayfever sufferers grap- “Food service workplaces will operate normal hours dur- order to consciously resist religious and superstitious ple with runny noses and sneezing. ing Ramadan,” said a notice posted last week on the web- ideas”. — AFP Masks are used in China chiefly as a way of protect- site of the state Food and Drug Administration in Xinjiang’s ing the wearer from the sometimes-choking pollution Jinghe county. Officials in the region’s Bole county were of the big cities, while South Koreans wear them rou- told: “During Ramadan do not engage in fasting, vigils or Australian IS tinely for a mixture of reasons. “Masks are most preva- other religious activities,” according to a local government website report of a meeting this week. lent in the winter season and in the spring, supported Uighur rights groups say China’s restrictions on Islam in doctor Issued by a government campaign,” said Kim Mi-Kyung, a Xinjiang have added to ethnic tensions in the region, health management professor at Kyung-In Women’s where clashes have killed hundreds in recent years. China arrest warrant University. “Nowadays, different types of masks are says it faces a terrorist threat in Xinjiang, with officials widely used for sanitation and protection against the blaming “religious extremism” for growing violence. SYDNEY: An arrest warrant was issued yesterday for cold, or to prevent the inhalation of pollutants,” she Muslim culture an Australian-trained doctor who appeared in an said. However, scientists-and even mask manufactur- “China’s goal in prohibiting fasting is to forcibly move Islamic State propaganda video which urges other ers-say wearing a mask every day does not provide the Uighurs away from their Muslim culture during Ramadan,” medical professionals to join the jihadists, police said. level of protection many people seem to think. said Dilxat Rexit, a spokesman for the exiled World Uyghur Tareq Kamleh was shown in the slick video, uploaded “Wearing a mask is not perfect to prevent a wearer Congress. “Policies that prohibit religious fasting are a to YouTube in April, identifying himself as Abu Yusuf from picking up a virus,” said Mitsuo Kaku, professor of provocation and will only lead to instability and conflict.” and explaining that he travelled to the city of Raqa in infectious disease at Tohoku University. “It can be said, Going one step beyond simply discouraging government Syria to use his medical skills in the IS cause. though, that wearing a mask and washing your hands employees to forgo fasting, police and court officials in Police said he was an Adelaide-trained doctor who could reduce the spread of micro-organisms,” he said. were ordered to “take the lead in teaching has worked in hospitals in South Australia, family members not to fast and not to participate in Norio Ohmagari, director of Japan’s Disease Control Queensland and the Northern Territory. ‘The South Ramadan-related religious activities”, according to a post and Prevention Center, said improper use of masks fur- Australian Joint Counter Terrorism team has obtained ther lessens their efficacy. “In principle, masks should on China Legal Media. As in previous years, school children were included in an arrest warrant for Dr Tareq Kamleh,’ police said in a be used only once,” he said, adding a wearer must statement. They allege he is a member of, and recruit- wash their hands after disposing of the used mask. directives limiting Ramadan fasting and other religious observances. The education bureau of Tarbaghatay city, ed for, a terrorist organization and that he entered a “People don’t know how to handle them properly.” In prohibited area under Australia’s Criminal Code Act. the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention known as in Chinese, this month ordered schools to communicate to students that “during Ramadan, ethnic ‘Should Dr Kamleh return to Australia, this warrant says face masks block “large-particle droplets, splash- minority students do not fast, do not enter mosques... and authorizes law enforcement to arrest him immediate- es, sprays or splatter that may contain germs... from do not attend religious activities”. ly,’ the statement said. Australia raised its threat level reaching your mouth and nose.” But they do not “filter Similar orders were posted on the websites of other to ‘high’ last September and has since carried out a or block very small particles in the air that may be Xinjiang education bureaus and schools. Officials in the series of counter-terrorism raids with alarm fuelled by transmitted by coughs, sneezes or certain medical pro- region’s this week met with local religious the departure of dozens of Australians to fight in Iraq cedures.” — AFP leaders to inform them there would be increased inspec- and Syria. — AFP tions during Ramadan in order to “maintain social stabili-