The government encourages wearing of made at home face masks in a new campaign

Featuring the best of Indian cricketers, the campaign asks us to make a mask at home and wear it whenever we step out of our homes.

Wearing a mask today is imperative. It is one of the most effective measures we have to combat the virus' spread and also, a mandate in several states when going outside homes.

But, this doesn't mean you rush to your nearest chemist stores and stock up on bulk quantities of masks. No. Instead, you do the right thing and make a mask at home, which is not only easy but will help combat hoarding and will help frontline healthcare workers have sufficient supplies as they treat patients infected with the virus.

The government has come out with a campaign featuring Indian cricket players to persuade people to wear homemade masks.

#TeamIndia is now #TeamMaskForce!

Join #IndiaFightsCorona and download @mygovindia's @SetuAarogya mobile application 📱@PMOIndia @narendramodi 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/M06okJhegt

— BCCI (@BCCI) April 18, 2020

Created by Ogilvy India, the campaign is called 'Mask Force' and has India's best top cricketers telling you that just like being a member of the Indian cricket team is a tremendous responsibility, now we have a chance to join a bigger team 'Mask Force' which anybody can join by wearing a homemade mask.

The video has players like Virat Kohli, Harmanpreet Kaur, Rohit Sharma, Mithali Raj, Sachin Tendulkar, and others saying lines that together form the overall message.

Piyush Pandey Ogilvy’s Chief Creative Officer Worldwide and Executive Chairman, India, said, “For decades now, we at Ogilvy have stepped up to stand by our country’s needs through our CSR, be it for Polio Eradication, Literacy, fighting crimes against women and many more causes. So as soon as the Government of India approached us for our effectiveness in spreading messages to the masses, we wholeheartedly jumped in to do our bit. I believed that ‘Mask Force’ would be a likeable term that could be used to galvanise the whole country, hence decided to name this program ‘Mask Force’.”

Ogilvy has also said that this is the first in the Mask Force series of exercises it is partnering the government on, in India’s war against COVID-19.

At the end of the video, we are told that all the details of making a mask at home can be found on the 'Arogya Setu' mobile app which the government of India had developed to help Indians connect with essential healths services.

The press release also said that the BCCI was instrumental in getting together the cricketers required for the campaign.

Recently, The Times of India has come out with an initiative titled #MaskIndia encouraging Indians to make masks at home, upload a photo/selfie with it and tag it #MASKINDIA with a chance to be featured on TOI and maskindia.com

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends, "...wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies), especially in areas of significant community-based transmission."

"CDC also advises the use of simple cloth face coverings to slow the spread of the virus and help people who may have the virus and do not know it from transmitting it to others. Cloth face coverings fashioned from household items or made at home from common materials at low cost can be used as an additional, voluntary public health measure."