A video circulating in Indonesia is causing a bit of panic and outrage as it allegedly showed an illicit mask repackaging operation carried out in highly unhygienic conditions.

The video was supposedly taken as recently as Feb. 19.

It was put up on gossip Instagram account Lambe Turah.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8zhj_6Hvmc/

What it showed

The two-part video showed piles of surgical masks strewn on the ground.

The caption for the video even claimed that the face masks were from a hospital and had been discarded.

Workers seated on the ground were surrounded by countless face masks.

Two people could be seen walking barefoot on the face masks.

The person who narrated the video said the masks were sorted to be repackaged.

They were to be sent to a buyer named Mariana.

One mask, held up to the camera, showed it was allegedly made by Indonesian face mask brand Solida.

Company responds

Maesindo Indonesia, the company that produces the Solida brand of masks, has since denied being involved.

The company responded by posting a video of its own on Instagram of their factory in Yogyakarta.

https://www.instagram.com/tv/B80JUGzAu3J/

The sterile conditions in the proper factory were vastly different from the conditions seen in the other video.

Prices of face masks in Indonesia have increased nearly 10 times in the midst of the Covid-19 outbreak.

But experts have said that face masks are not the most effective means to prevent the transmission of the virus.

The World Health Organisation prioritises frequent hand-washing instead.