Last updated 5 January 2022
Masks should be used as part of a comprehensive strategy of measures to suppress transmission and save lives; the use of a mask alone is not sufficient to provide an adequate level of protection against COVID-19.
If COVID-19 is spreading in your community, stay safe by taking some simple precautions, such as physical distancing, wearing a mask, keeping rooms well ventilated, avoiding crowds, cleaning your hands, and coughing into a bent elbow or tissue. Check local advice where you live and work. Do it all!
Make wearing a mask a normal part of being around other people. The appropriate use, storage and cleaning or disposal of masks are essential to make them as effective as possible.
Here is a video explaining the basics of how to wear a mask:
- Clean your hands before you put your mask on, as well as before and after you take it off, and after you touch it at any time.
- Make sure it covers both your nose, mouth and chin.
- When you take off a mask, store it in a clean plastic bag, and every day either wash it if it’s a fabric mask, or dispose of a medical mask in a trash bin.
- Don’t use masks with valves.
Masks should not be worn during exercise in order for you to breathe properly. No matter how intensely you exercise, keep at least 1 metre away from others, and if you’re indoors, make sure there is enough ventilation.
For specifics on what type of mask to wear and when, see our Q&A and watch our videos. There is also a Q&A focused on masks and children.
Find out more about the science of how COVID-19 infects people, and our bodies react, by watching or reading this interview.
For specific advice for decision makers, see WHO’s technical guidance.
