The health ministry on Thursday ordered medical institutions and distributors of surgical masks to secure adequate supplies of a certain mask in an attempt to limit the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome should the epidemic hit Japan.
The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry issued the order through prefectural governments for N95 surgical masks, which can filter out 95 percent of microparticles with a diameter of 0.3 microns or larger.
The masks cannot completely protect wearers from SARS because the suspected source of the deadly pneumonia, a new type of coronavirus, is only about 0.15 microns in diameter. Nevertheless, experts say they can help reduce the risk of infection.