COVID-19: Gold masks surface in India's Hyderabad

Turning a necessity into a luxury, a set of jewellers in the Indian city of Hyderabad has begun crafting facemasks made of gold.

As the coronavirus pandemic claims about 8 million infections around the globe and health agencies such as the World Health Organisation recommend the use of masks to protect against the spread of COVID-19, the presence of air filtering tools has become ubiquitous.

Slowly however, the style of masks has been undergoing an evolution. It began with embroidered masks, designer masks by world-famous brands and DIY efforts that reworked cloth lying at home.

Then came the masks style and coronavirus conscious brides and grooms decided to don for their weddings; these matched outfits – there was function and fashion.

Now, mask makers are going a step further with face shaders made of gold. Crafted with intricate designs, these masks were first peddled by a well-known jewellery brand in Hyderabad – only to draw flak; it may look fashion forward but was deemed unlikely to actually do the job it was built for – act as a filter.

Indeed, a video showing some of these designs pointed to the pieces being so delicate that for them to have any effect at all, they’d need to be worn over another, more ‘traditional’ surgical mask. Golden idea? Not so much.