[CNN] Confronting new, more transmissible variants of the coronavirus and a winter spike in infections, a number of European countries are beginning to make medical-grade face masks mandatory in the hope that they can slow the spread of the disease.

The French government has now mandated that citizens wear single-use surgical FFP1 masks, more protective FFP2 filtering facepiece respirators or fabric masks which meet the same Category 1 specifications -- blocking more than 90% of particles -- in all public places. In layman's terms, homemade masks will no longer cut it.

source: cnn