The World Health Organization is broadening its recommendations for the use of masks during the coronavirus pandemic.

Here are the three revised recommendations:

1. People should wear fabric masks when social distancing is not possible, such as on public transportation and stores.

2. People over age 60 or with underlying medical conditions also should wear masks in situations where social distancing cannot be maintained.

3. Health workers in areas where the virus is spreading freely should always wear masks inside medical facilities. Doctors working in cardiology or other wards, for example, should wear medical masks even if the facilities had no known coronavirus patients.

The WHO previously had recommended that only health care workers, people with COVID-19 and their caregivers wear medical masks, noting a global shortage of supplies.

In April, the governors of Connecticut, New Jersey and New York imposed a stricter measure requiring all residents to wear masks or face coverings whenever social distancing was not possible, in order to control the spread of the coronavirus.

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April Baller, a WHO infection control expert, said the type of masks recommended for the general public are fabric or cloth coverings that can be made at home. She said part of the reason for the widening of WHO's advice on face masks was the increasing evidence COVID-19 can be spread by people before they have symptoms.

During a press briefing discussing the revised guidance, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus added that “masks on their own will not protect you from COVID-19” and emphasized the importance of hand-washing, social distancing and other infection-prevention strategies.

Other health agencies, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have recommended for some time the wearing of masks or face coverings by the general public to slow the spread of the coronavirus. British authorities said that face coverings would be compulsory on subways and other mass transit.

AP wire services contributed to this report.