Paris, Feb 27 (IANS): Hollywood star Gwyneth Paltrow was seen wearing an anti-germ face mask while travelling to Paris, France.
Paris is the latest part of the world to be hit by COVID-19, with one person dying overnight after being infected, one of more than 80,000 cases, and more than 2,700 deaths worldwide -- the majority of which have been in mainland China.
With the Paris Fashion Week still ongoing, despite the health scare, Paltrow is flying into France - but told her Instagram followers she is being extra-cautious, reports aceshowbiz.com.
Posting a photograph of herself in a luxury Airinum mask that covered the lower half of her face, she wrote: "En route to Paris. Paranoid? Prudent? Panicked? Placid? Pandemic? Propaganda? Paltrow's just going to go ahead and sleep with this thing on the plane. I've already been in this movie. Stay safe. Don't shake hands. Wash hands frequently."
Her reference to having "already been in this movie" is a nod to Steven Soderbergh's 2011 pandemic thriller "Contagion", in which she plays one of the earliest victims of a deadly pandemic virus, which she brings to the US.
Actress Kate Hudson was too seen with a mask. However, several users on Instagram pointed out that it was a medical mask and wouldn't help to stay safe from COVID-19.
She had shared a photograph of herself in a protective face mask on Instagram and captioned it: "Travel. 2020" with a shocked face emoji.
Several users were quick to tell the actress that her mask would do little to ward off the infection.
One cautioned: "If you are worried about corona...only the N95 mask will protect you...that one won't do much...just saying." Hudson replied: "..This is the best Ican do for now. God speed."
One said: "Masks don't work 100% - read up on it".
Another user wrote: "Those masks do nothing".