LONDON (Reuters) - Population-wide facemask use could push COVID-19 transmission down to controllable levels for national epidemics and could prevent further waves of the pandemic disease when combined with lockdowns, according to a UK study published Wednesday.

The research, led by scientists at Britains Cambridge and Greenwich Universities, suggests lockdowns alone will not stop the resurgence of the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, but that even homemade masks can dramatically reduce transmission rates if enough people wear them in public.

Our analyses support the immediate and universal adoption of facemasks by the public, said Richard Stutt, who co-led the study at Cambridge.