A medical doctor with the Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi, Benue State, Ifegbike Kalu, on Friday warned that constant washing of hands, wearing facemasks could make one susceptible to COVID-19.

Dr Kalu spoke in while reacting to claims by Pastor Chris Oyakhilome of LoveWorld Incorporated that the use of face mask was an embarrassment to science.

Oyakhilome had also claimed that wearing of face mask in public was dangerous to human health because it puts the immune system at risk.

Reacting, Dr Kalu in a chat with DAILY POST, said some people in the same world believe that using a face mask in public stops man from interacting with virus and bacteria.

Kalu said preventing natural interaction with virus and bacteria may lead to a drop in man’s immunity.

He said: “I think he has his reasons because there is this school of thought that believes that the use of mask outside prevents one from interacting naturally with virus and bacteria which is not supposed to be; because even if they are harmful, they are beneficial to humans.

“On a normal day, some people believe this current persistent handwashing is too much. When you keep washing your hands, isolating yourself, and keeping away from bacteria, your immunity will drop with time. When you now expose yourself to those organisms you could come down with infections more than we are trying to avoid right now.”

The medical practitioner warned that people would become more vulnerable when they make contact with bacteria after protecting themselves for a long time.

He said: “By all means, we should not stop people from mingling with bacteria like what we are doing now; we are cleaning too much, there is no interaction. If the interaction is limited over time, people won’t survive when they come in contact with any bacteria at all.

“It’s like everything we know about science is being turned upside down by COVID-19 which is not supposed to be.”