COVID-19: Central government issues guide to make face masks at home

The Central government has issued guidelines in a manual on how to make a face masks at home to prevent the spread of coronavirus pandemic.

The proposed guide is meant to provide a simple outline of best practices to make, use and reuse masks to enable NGOs and individuals to self-create such masks and accelerate widespread adoption of masks across India.

The key criteria for proposed designs are Ease of Access to Materials, Easy of Making at Home, Ease of Use and Reuse. Wearing of masks is especially recommended for people living in densely populated areas across India.

Step one is to cut cloth fabric for the mask at the following sizes as required: adult: 9 inch x 7 inch Child: 7 inch x 5 inch.

Step two is cutting fourstrips for tying and piping from cloth. Out of thistwo pieces should be 1.5 inch x 5inchand the other two pieces should be 1.5 inch x 40inch.

Step three is to take the cut fabric, attach the 1.5 inch x 5 inchstrip to be used as piping to the fabric on one end.

Step four is to create three downward facing pleats of approximately 1.5 incheach folding cloth.

Step five is to turn the pleated cloth to the other side and repeat steps for pleating on this side.Once the pleats have been made, the height of the pleated cloth will be reduced from 9 inchto 5 inch.

Step six is secure the pleats with piping on both sides.Take extra care to keep all pleats facing

Step seven is to attachthe long 40” strips used for tying the mask to the top and bottom of mask as shown.

Step eight is to once againfold both these strips three times and stitch and the mask is ready.