San Francisco, Sep 3 (IANS): London Breed, the Mayor of San Francisco, has launched a public awareness campaign to educate residents, workers, and visitors about the importance of wearing face masks to contain the spread of Covid-19 and help the US city continue reopening.

The campaign launched on Wednesday supports the city's response to the Covid-19 pandemic with comprehensive, multilingual, and culturally competent outreach and public awareness with the overall goal of seeing more reidents wear masks at all times when outside their homes, Xinhua news agency quoted the Mayor's office as saying.

The citywide campaign will be deployed with posters, signage, and digital billboards in areas where people tend to gather.

In addition, it has a robust digital and social media presence with TV, radio, print and streaming ads.

The campaign also includes outreach as well as targeted campaigns in the city's key communities such as Mission District, Chinatown, Oceanview, Merced and other neighbourhoods.

"We are all eager to see our city reopen more and to be able to support our small businesses, see our youth get back in the classroom and see our friends again," said Breed

"This campaign reminds us that it is possible, but everyone has a part to play and wearing a mask, socially distancing, and frequent hand washing is key".

Wearing face coverings is a critical part of San Francisco's Covid-19 strategy.

The public health department issued a health order in May requiring face coverings whenever in public.

A recent citywide survey showed a 71 per cent compliance rate of mask-wearing, demonstrating that there is more work needed to achieve better compliance.

The announcement also argued that mask-wearing is not a substitute for staying home, but a way to reduce the chance of transmission when outside, reaffirming that "San Francisco's Stay Home Order is still in effect, and residents should continue to stay inside as much as possible".

San Francisco has so far recorded a total of 9,617 Covid-19 cases.